More Americans are shedding pounds one shot at a time than ever before, according to new research. The number of adults across the country using GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss just hit a record high, a new Gallup poll of 5,065 U.S. adults reveals.
The survey shows that 11% of Americans 18 and older are currently taking GLP-1s to lose weight, up from 3% who said they were back in 2024. That means the number of people using them has nearly quadrupled in just two years.
- Another 15% say they used the medications for weight loss at some point, up 9% in just two years.
- One upside to the increase in use is that the obesity rate is falling. It peaked at 39.9% in 2022 and is now down to 36.4%.
- The national diabetes rate is also holding steady after climbing for 15 years.
- The first GLP-1 was approved to treat type 2 diabetes more than two decades ago, but the drugs didn’t become really popular until 2021 when the FDA greenlit Wegovy as an obesity treatment.
- Brand-name GLP1s like Ozempic or Wegovy account for 68% of current usage, compared with 19% who use a compounded or custom-mixed version of the medicine. An additional 12% don’t know whether they’re using a brand-name version.
- Those who use a brand-name drug report slightly lower effectiveness than users of a compounded version, but both types of patients consider the drugs to be effective.
- Nearly four in 10 (39%) compounded users rate theirs as “extremely effective,” compared with 32% of brand-name users.
Source: NY Post