Ozempic and Other Weight-Loss Drugs Are Sparking a Risky New War on Obesity

[Nevilledog]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ozempic-and-other-weight-loss-drugs-are-sparking-a-risky-new-war-on-obesity/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/juagc

In 1998, Viagra received FDA approval. A financial bonanza followed for its manufacturer, Pfizer, and later for its competitors. Although initially approved—and marketed—specifically for erectile dysfunction, Pfizer and later competitors used aggressive targeted marketing to catapult the drug from an erectile dysfunction treatment to a lifestyle pill pocketed by nervous 30-year-olds heading out on Internet dates.

The erectile dysfunction drugs market was valued at $2.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $5.1 billion by 2032 Huge numbers of men get the drug online, skipping time-consuming and costly in-person doctor visits but often getting counterfeit varieties, after receiving a token sign-off by a doctor with who-knows-what expertise whom they never see again. This is dangerous since it leaves the underlying cause of sexual dysfunction undiagnosed and untreated.

Another drug is experiencing a similar meteoric explosion—only the downfall could be far worse. The injectable drug semaglutide, better known by trade names like Wegovy and Ozempic, is going to create an ethical and financial maelstrom that will make the downsides of Viagra’s history, with huge numbers of men not treated for their diabetes or heart disease, pale in comparison. The drug, alongside a cache of similar weight-loss medications, has become immensely popular over the past few years—the demand revealing cost issues, dubious marketing, questionable online sales and failures to address underlying causes of disease.

As we all know, many Americans are dangerously fat. The U.S. is the most obese nation on the planet, with 42 percent of adults considered obese. Even more of us qualify as overweight.

*snip*

[LiberalFighter]

1. Are there a lot of overweight people? If so, why?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

2. Lots of overweight people

Go out to your local Walmart. Plenty there.

As to why, combination of sedentary lifestyles and a diet of processed crap for food.

[LiberalFighter]

3. I see a lot of overweight kids.

But don't know if my mind is just telling me that or if it is reality.

[JanMichael]

4. Your mind is arguing with what your eyes see?

Unusual.

[LiberalFighter]

5. Well where I look may not reflect the total picture.

And as I am not a scientist or have done any type of census. It would be improper for me to make a statement without having the facts.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. From Harvard Medical

While U.S. obesity rates have, overall, stayed steady since 2003, they have more than doubled since 1980. They remain worrisomely high-the highest among all of the high-income countries in the world. (1) And obesity takes a heavier toll on some U.S. ethnic and racial groups than others, with rates continuing to rise. (9) A closer look at the U.S. numbers in adults:

Roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent).

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-trends-original/obesity-rates-worldwide/#:~:text=Roughly%20two%20out%20of%20three,are%20obese%20(36%20percent).

[LiberalFighter]

8. Thank you. So my eyes are not deceiving me.

And imo it is likely due to parents not providing the right type of meals.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. It's A Likely Contributor

The numbers from Harvard are for adults. So, this suggests many adults don't eat the right kind of meals.
If they have kids, it's darned likely the kids aren't eating right either.

[Celerity]

13. 'Roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent)'

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Precisely

If it was a typical medical malady, we'd call it an epidemic.

[former9thward]

9. Its reality.

Look at pictures of kids in the 50s, 60s and even 70s. Night and day difference with the average kids of today.

[NickB79]

6. Failure to address underlying causes of disease?

Obesity itself IS classified as a disease by the AMA.

And frankly, any possible side effects of weight loss drugs like Ozempic pale in comparison to the well known health effects of obesity. It's literally killing Americans daily in vast numbers.

[Deep State Witch]

11. High Fructose Corn Syrup

That shit is in everything.

[Calculating]

12. Anything to avoid better diet and exercise right?

Sigh...

[phylny]

14. This is a really cruel statement.

Science is proving that obesity's cure is not just diet and exercise. Obesity is a disease. You can have the disease of obesity and not be fat. People with obesity can consume the same amount of calories as someone without obesity and gain weight while the person without the disease can remain a stable weight. The science of obesity is very complicated and is not just "exercise and diet and you'll lose weight."

I have insulin resistance and use Ozempic. It is not a miracle weight loss drug (I wish). I use it to keep me from going into full-blown type two diabetes and to keep my a1c down, and it's working.

It is miserably difficult to lose weight and keep it off.

https://www.livescience.com/49782-obesity-treatments-biology.html

https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/health-library/all/2021/04/how-lose-weight-when-diet-and-exercise-isnt-working

[Wonder Why]

15. A very one sided article

I have been taking Ozempic for a few years. It helped with my diabetes but not enough and did nothing for my weight. I was always hungry and have been trying to lose weight for 30 years and, in fact, for most of my life.

Last spring my doctor increased my Ozempic dose to help my blood sugars. Neither she nor I had any thoughts of weight loss but since then,I have lost 26 pounds so far and feel so much better. I don't feel the need to eat anywhere as much nor to eat between meals.

It does work. My blood sugar took a significant drop because I eat much less and no side effects. Controlling its cost by the government would be wonderful and proper because Big Pharma is greedy but I have definitely been helped by Ozempic and when my weight started going down, my interest in exercising at the Y started and we both have been going faithfully since then.

When I lost 15 pounds, my doctor said that it would be good to lose 10 to 15 more. I told her I wanted to do 20 more. I'm on my way.