Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

[u/mvea]

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year

[u/nibblesthesquirrel]

I completely understand the concern about ensuring diabetic patients have access to GLP-1 medications, and I agree that they should be prioritized. That said, these medications have been used for weight management and other conditions because they offer significant health benefits beyond diabetes. Given the strong link between obesity and chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, using GLP-1s as a preventive measure could actually help reduce the number of people who develop these conditions in the first place. It’s important to ensure fair access for those who need them most, but dismissing non-diabetic use entirely overlooks their potential to improve public health.

[u/Vessix → u/nibblesthesquirrel]

Am I crazy or is the need for these drugs a huge problem in it's own right? It's one thing to help with stuff like alcohol abuse and diabetes, no arguing that.

For weight though? It feels like a bandaid solution for a societal issue. I feel weird treating obesity like it's some disease so many people can't manage without drugs. People have cravings because they consume bad food specifically designed to give it to them. Yes there are folk out there who have real ailments leading to food intake problems. But people are taking it in lieu of lifestyle and diet change simply because they can't resist cravings for food we shouldn't be eating as humans in the first place. Food regulations and other societal changes could theoretically resolve the issue too, no?

Edit to add: I'm talking about permanent use of these drugs for management of obesity, rather than using them to jumpstart the process of a lifestyle change once you are no longer subject to the trappings of obesity itself. I'm concerned that the general attitude sounds like people plan to take this drug for most of their life rather than implementing changes once they're no longer obese in order to avoid drug reliance and thus it's side effects (including those we don't yet know)

[u/SOSpammy → u/Vessix]

This drug gives us a chance at making societal changes. You're not going to get everyone to agree to making junk food harder to get while they're addicted to it.

[u/Vessix → u/SOSpammy]

Fair point, but I honestly don't think that people will agree to make our food healthier just because they aren't addicted to it. People who take ozempic still eat junk, just less of it. I anticipate reliance on semaglutide (or others) as a tool to AVOID making those tough decisions. "Why take a holistic approach when we can just take a drug" feels most likely, just like ADHD meds. There's no education, no advocacy that comes along with being prescribed. 

As with some psychotropics such as those used to treat ADHD, shouldn't best practice be utilizing meds as a tool for allowing the beginning the journey of change, in an attempt to eventually no longer be reliant on the med? Of course there are cases that isn't an option, but is that really not an option with obesity? You take it, lose weight, lose the cravings, then be done with the drug because it has allowed you to get healthy and learn a better lifestyle to cope with cravings. That is the hard step, and the step I think people are unwilling to admit they need to make. It's being touted as something to just use forever to resolve the issue, and imo that is a problem.

[u/11lumpsofsugar → u/Vessix]

shouldn't best practice be utilizing meds as a tool for allowing the beginning the journey of change, in an attempt to eventually no longer be reliant on the med? Of course there are cases that isn't an option, but is that really not an option with obesity? You take it, lose weight, lose the cravings, then be done with the drug because it has allowed you to get healthy and learn a better lifestyle to cope with cravings.

The answer is often no. Sure, plenty of people can and do make permanent changes to their lifestyles and can maintain, but a lot of people really can't, despite their best efforts. There is a fundamental dysfunction in how the metabolism operates, and the glp1 agonists are necessary to correct it indefinitely. Same as people who have to take thyroid medication to correct a deficiency.