Has Obesity Peaked?
STATISTA: Has Obesity in the U.S. Peaked?
by Felix Richter,
Oct 11, 2024
After decades of rising obesity rates in the United States, the country may have turned a corner in its fight against the condition that increases the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. According to the latest results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults aged 20 and older was 40.3 percent during the August 2021 – August 2023 survey period, down from 41.9 percent between 2017 and 2020, which marked the highest prevalence ever recorded.
According to historical data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, adult obesity prevalence climbed from 13 percent in 1960-1962 to 23 percent between 1988 and 1994 and first reached 30 percent in the 1999-2000 wave of the national survey. Aside from two small dents, the prevalence of obesity has continued to climb from there, reaching 41.9 percent in the last pre-pandemic survey period. While the latest decline marks the first drop in obesity prevalence since 2011-2012, the NCHS notes that the changes in the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity between the two most recent survey cycles weren’t statistically significant, as the differences were within the standard error.
So while the decline in obesity rates could just be a statistical blip, it could also be the first sign of a meaningful trend. Some are even suggesting that the decline could be related to the rise of semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic – an antidiabetic medication developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but also highly effective for weight loss. These drugs mimic a hormone called GLP-1 that helps regulate blood sugar and reduce appetite, the latter in particular helping users to consume fewer calories and lose weight.
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Oct 11, 2024
Ozempic, a drug developed and approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has gained a lot of attention in recent years. And while it’s still widely used for its intended purpose, helping diabetes patients to regulate blood sugar, Ozempic and its active ingredient semaglutide have also sparked the interest of non-diabetics – as a highly effective weight loss drug. By mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, semaglutide limits appetite and slows down gastric emptying, meaning that users feel full for longer periods and consequently eat less.
According to a 2024 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 1 in 8 U.S. adults have taken such medication at some point, the majority of which having done so to treat a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease. However, almost 4 in 10 users have taken GLP-1 drugs primarily to lose weight, be it through off-label use of diabetes drugs such as Ozempic or as intended with similar drugs approved to treat obesity such as Wegovy. And while these drugs have been found effective in achieving significant weight loss, critics have warned against potential adverse health effects of rapid weight loss, such as loss of muscle mass or reduced bone density.
According to a 2023 Morning Consult survey, almost 3 in 10 U.S. adults were interested in trying GLP-1 prescription drugs for weight loss, but the majority prefers more “traditional” weight loss methods over the relatively new and unproven medication. Morning Consult found that roughly 80 percent of respondents thought that increasing the amount of exercise is not only effective for losing weight and keeping it off, but it’s also safe – something that significantly fewer respondents said about Ozempic and the like. While 37 and 34 percent of U.S. adults believed that GLP-1 drugs were effective in losing weight and keeping weight off, respectively, just 33 percent of respondents considered it safe at this point. While exercise is the number 1 weight loss method according to Americans, other options were considered superior to prescription drugs as well. These included following a specific diet, weight loss programs and even weight loss surgery.
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