{"id":288925,"date":"2026-09-18T13:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288925\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T13:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:36:14","slug":"chasing-the-ideal-professors-on-the-normalization-of-extreme-weight-loss-the-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288925\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing the ideal: Professors on the normalization of extreme weight loss \u2013 The Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Economics<\/a> <\/p>\n

Economics professor Adam Biener noted a shift in advertisements marketing appetite suppressants more towards treating weight loss. (Graphic by Miley Hamilton \u201927)<\/p>\n

As social media continues to redefine what the ideal body type is, GLP-1 medications \u2014 appetite suppressants \u2014 have emerged as a controversial shortcut towards weight loss. Lafayette College professors weighed in on the rise of weight loss drugs and their effect on society\u2019s perception of what constitutes an optimal body.<\/p>\n

Retired psychology professor Susan Basow, who has researched body dissatisfaction and societal pressures, said that society is now seeing a resurgence of extremely thin body ideals for women and aggressive muscularity for men, physiques naturally attainable by only a minority of people.<\/p>\n

Linking these changes in beauty standards to the increase in usage of GLP-1 drugs, Basow described the medication as a \u201cwonder drug\u201d for people with serious metabolic disorders, like diabetes. Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy mimic the naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone, which regulates appetite and slows digestion.<\/p>\n

Before the rise of GLP-1s, there was a movement for body acceptance with a higher frequency of models of different sizes, according to Basow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t see that anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cWe see hyper-thin models. We see an obsession about appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basow attributed the shift to social media\u2019s constant narrowing of the definition of the \u201cideal body.\u201d She added that she expects beauty standards to become \u201cstricter and more unnatural,\u201d leading to an increase in cosmetic surgeries and weight-loss medications.<\/p>\n

The widespread use of these drugs for aesthetic purposes has distorted people\u2019s sense of self and worsened people\u2019s self-esteem, according to Basow. This unrealistic expectation creates insecurities, especially among young people who may become \u201cdesperate for social approval,\u201d Basow said.<\/p>\n

One reason for the increase in GLP-1 use may be attributed to a change in the drugs\u2019 advertising, according to economics professor Adam Biener, who previously researched healthcare policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He noted a shift in advertisements that market the drug more for treating weight loss rather than diabetes.<\/p>\n

Economics professor Susan Averett, who has previously researched gender and health economics, said that an increase in social media posts featuring weight-loss transformations has reinforced societal expectations for a thinner body. She added that the output of new weight-loss medications will continue to \u201cramp up as companies reach for the growing industry of GLP-1s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beiner warned that the growing industry has led to a rise in usage of weight-loss drugs that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including supplements or vitamins with microdoses of GLP-1s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re buying something off the internet, they really have to do due diligence to know that that is the real product coming from a manufacturer or something they believe is a legitimate equivalent,\u201d Biener said.<\/p>\n

Despite his concern, Biener said he believes medical weight loss will be \u201cincreasingly affordable and accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been at least a decade or two in the making,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Economics professor Adam Biener noted a shift in advertisements marketing appetite suppressants more towards treating weight loss. (Graphic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-288925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}