Ozempic Gets the Oprah Treatment in a New TV Special

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound are already extremely popular: by 2030, about 10% of the U.S. population will be on one of these drugs and the category’s sales will surpass $100 billion, according to some projections. On March 18, they got another major cultural boost from Oprah Winfrey, who shared her own experience with—and support for—these medications in an ABC special called “Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] During the special, Winfrey talked about how using one of these weight-loss drugs (she did not say which) changed her life and opened her eyes to the reality that obesity is a disease, rather than a choice. “All these years, I thought all of the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower, and they were for some reason stronger than me,” Winfrey said. After taking medication, however, she realized that she thought about food differently than people who had no trouble keeping weight off. Her brain was working against her. “You weren’t thinking about the food! You weren’t obsessing about it!” she said. “That is the big thing I learned.” The special, which will be available on Hulu starting March 19, spotlights a class of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, which mimic a hormone that suppresses appetite and controls blood sugar, helping some patients lose roughly 20% of their body weight. These...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news