For the first time in over a decade, obesity rates in the United States may finally be heading in the right direction and new weight loss drugs like semaglutide could be part of the reason why.
A new study published Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum found that obesity numbers ticked down slightly from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023. While only a slight decline, this is the first drop recorded in at least a decade.
The study reviewed the body mass index (BMIs), a measure of obesity, of 16.7 million U.S. adults over a 10-year period. The average BMI rose annually to 30.24 — which is considered obese — until it plateaued in 2022, then dropped marginally to 30.21 in 2023.
Women and adults aged 66 to 75 saw the largest decreases in obesity. People living in the South, where they had the highest dispensing rate of weight loss drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, also saw a meaningful decline in obesity.
Semaglutide is the active ingredient found in the popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. The U.S. saw a 700% increase in the use of these drugs specifically for weight loss from 2019 to 2023, according to one Annals of Internal Medicine study. They are also used to treat type 2 diabetes or a combination of diabetes and obesity.
However, there could be other factors at play. For example, while data looking at pharmacy prescriptions showed that the South had the highest dispensing rate of weight loss medications, this area also experienced a disproportionately high number of COVID-19 deaths among people with obesity.
While the findings are encouraging, experts caution that it’s too soon to tell if this trend toward shrinking waistlines will continue.