Obesity rates fall for the first time in at least a decade

Obesity rates in the country are decreasing. This was revealed by a study conducted by the renowned journal JAMA, which detailed that this could be due to the increasingly common use of weight-loss drugs.

According to the study, obesity figures began to decrease slightly from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023. Despite being less than half a percentage point, the slight drop is the first recorded in at least a decade.

"These findings suggest that BMI and obesity prevalence in the U.S. decreased in 2023 for the first time in more than a decade," explained the journal.

The journal explained that for the study, the body mass index of more than 16.7 million adults nationwide between 2013 and 2023 was analyzed. In addition, it indicated that the average BMI increased every year, reaching a maximum of 30.24 in 2022. It dropped suddenly to 30.21 in 2023.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if a BMI is 30.0 or higher, it is within the obese range.

In addition, the study indicated that the most notable decrease was in the South, which had the highest observed per capita GLP-1RA dispensing rate. Women of various ages and adults aged 66 to 75 years experienced the greatest decrease in obesity.

The data comes at a time when the use of weight-loss drugs is booming. A study conducted by Annals of Internal Medicine and reviewed by the New York Post revealed that between 2019 and 2023, the use of specific brands of weight-loss drugs in the United States increased by 700%.

These are drugs that are also used to treat type 2 diabetes. However, they have become popular for weight loss.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden's administration is proposing to make weight-loss drugs available to millions of people within the broad public health insurance program.

Currently, within Medicare and Medicaid insurance plans, drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are only available to people who are overweight, have diabetes or heart disease, for the most part.

However, the White House announced that Biden wanted to expand their availability for cases such as treating obesity itself, extending coverage to nearly 7.5 million low-income and older Americans.

The White House argued that at least 42% of Americans are estimated to have obesity problems.