Is the US Seeing a Turning Point in Obesity Rates?
Obesity rates climbed in the US for years, but now there are signs this could be changing. Use of weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy has increased rapidly — are they helping?
The United States has been grappling with an obesity epidemic since the late 1970s, but there is growing evidence that the constantly climbing obesity rates are beginning to drop.
“We’re seeing signs that there’s going to be a turning point,” said Benjamin Rader, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and at Harvard Medical School who conducts research into health trends using large datasets. In 2024, he and his colleagues published a study based on data from more than 16 million adults, which suggested there had been a decline in obesity prevalence in 2023 — for the first time in more than 10 years.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey also indicated a slight decline between 2021 and 2023. More recent surveys have also provided evidence of declining figures.
Excerpted from Inquirer.net
