American Obesity Rates Are Now Falling, and It’s Almost Certainly Because of Ozempic

For decades, the obesity rate among Americans trended inexorably higher, to a peak of 39.9 percent in 2022.

But now, new data from Gallup’s National Health and Well-Being Index shows that something extraordinary has happened: that longstanding trend has reversed, with the obesity rate falling back down to 37 percent this year.

“This is a statistically meaningful decrease representing an estimated 7.6 million fewer obese adults compared with three years ago,” reads the report.

One tempting explanation: that Americans’ falling weights could be because of the explosive popularity of GLP-1 agonist medications like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, both of which contain the active ingredient semaglutide, which reduces appetite and often leads to significant reductions in body mass.

That ce