In recent decades, obesity has continued to represent one of the most serious health challenges in the United States: more than 40% of the population is clinically obese, while approximately three in four adults are overweight. However, according to new data released by Gallup, for the first time a reversal in the trend has been observed.
In 2025, in fact, the percentage of obese adults fell from 39.9% recorded in 2022 to 37%, translating into 7.6 million citizens who no longer fall into the clinical category of obesity. But this decline is not the result of a cultural revolution or a sudden collective passion for physical activity. The credit, rather, goes to drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Originally approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, Ozempic is a semaglutide-based drug, capable of acting on the sense of satiety and appetite. Since 2017, the year it was launched on the market, its use has seen a rapid surge, especially after the FDA approval for the specific indication of weight loss in 2021.
As of 2023, Ozempic became the 19th most prescribed drug in the United States, with more than 25 million prescriptions. As of 2024, one in eight American adults had taken a GLP-1 drug for weight control at least once. The age groups most involved in the decline in obesity are those between 40 and 64 years old, i.e. the same ones in which the greatest use of these injectable treatments is recorded.
Women appear to be the main users, although the use of these drugs has more than doubled in both genders in the last year.
Not a public health victory, but symptom management at a cost
While on the one hand the decline in the obesity rate may seem like a positive sign, on the other the overall picture remains worrying. Diabetes rates, for example, have reached an all-time high of 13.8%, confirming that metabolic problems are far from resolved. Furthermore, the current level of obesity is still higher than in 2012, when it stood at 26%.
Ozempic represents a marvel of modern biopharmaceutics, but cannot be considered a definitive cure. It is a treatment that works only as long as it is taken: once the therapy is stopped, the biological hunger signals return forcefully. In essence, it is a “weight loss subscription,” and not a structural solution.
Its success risks masking a larger problem: the systemic failure of American public health, where diet, stress and physical inactivity continue to worsen. If the population does not change their lifestyle, the improvement will only be temporary and heavily dependent on a very expensive pharmaceutical product.
A possible domino effect, but still fragile
Using Ozempic could set off a positive chain reaction, encouraging some people to take better care of themselves. But it is important to distinguish between an auxiliary effect and a true structural change. Losing weight thanks to a drug is not the same as resetting a healthy lifestyle, which remains the only truly sustainable long-term approach.
Ultimately, reducing obesity in 2025 is not a goal, but a new starting point, and not necessarily a solid one. We are using an efficient parachute, but we have not yet found a way not to fall. Until the cultural, economic and social environment supports health as a simple, economical and automatic choice, we will only continue to treat the symptoms, without treating the causes.
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