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Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

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Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#321

Post by rootusrootus »

stewarts wrote: post #294
CGMthrowaway wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I was wondering how you could get such a high impact overall. But it seems one in 6 households are on GLP-1 drugs in the US. I had the same question and did some back of the envelope math. The data I have seen says the average American eats 400-700 excess daily calories, and 3600 daily calories total. That means 10-20% excess per person. If everyone started eating the right amount overnight, grocery spend would drop…

I'm not sure how this math checks out. 1lb of fat is roughly 3500 calories. Given 500 calories a day of excess, that would lead to 1lb of fat gain per week. 52 pound average gain per year?

This hits on something that seems to get lost in most of these "obese people are lazy fat slobs" circle jerks. A typical American gains 1 or 2 pounds per year as they age. This is not a candy problem, or a binge eating problem, this is way more subtle than that.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#322

Post by rootusrootus »

Y_Y wrote: post #281
Aurornis wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my friend circle in Germany I don't even know one single person on this stuff. Most people don’t announce when they’re taking a new medication. GLP-1 drugs are popular in Germany, too. Not quite to the level of some other countries but a quick search shows about 1 in 12 individuals in Germany. Note that the US number quoted above was for households not individuals, so the numbers of households in Germany with at…

I don't think you've eliminated the likely hypothesis that overly processed food and GLP-1 use are significantly more prevalent in America. I don't think anyone would argue that these things don't exist at all in other countries, but we can still talk about degrees.

> we can still talk about degrees

And yet Europeans in this discussion are going out of their way to play the America Fat game without acknowledging how much fatter Europeans are than Asians.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#323

Post by samzub »

cthor wrote: post #125
mschwaig wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A consequence of universal healthcare that people don't talk about much is that it turns unhealthy citizens from an individual cost into more of a collective one. So it makes sense that countries with universal healthcare regulate in favor of their citizens as opposed to their food industry, because they're paying for the consequences more directly.

Not that this affects the political calculus (where perception may as well be reality), but the cost burden specific to universal healthcare is actually opposite this intuition. Things like obesity, smoking, and alcoholism all kill you before you can get too old. Healthy citizens end up using far more of the far more expensive end-of-life care, to the point where it outweighs the extra healthcare the unhealthy citize…

This (French) study [0] published in 2023 on data from 2019 calculates that the costs from legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, including higher helthcare spend during the life of smokers/drinkers, are still higher than revenue from unspent money on pensions and taxes, and cost of healthy person living years.

[0] https://www.ofdt.fr/sites/ofdt/files/2023-08/field_media_doc...

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#324

Post by alexfoo »

Aurornis wrote: post #186
u_sama wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are valid counterarguments to the overweight values, a lot of women who might be overweight are healthy because different % of fat are acceptable depending on the structure of the body. I agree, that has to do with "malbouffe" and other lifestyle choices. As for offering them that is a nice thing, but I am curious about the mechanics (mutuelles) and such of the medicine.

> a lot of women who might be overweight are healthy because different % of fat are acceptable depending on the structure of the body This is a tired argument. Most people who have BMI in the obese range do not have one of oft-cited exceptions that make BMI an imperfect measure. Everyone knows BMI is imperfect at this point, but the number of people who have BMI in the obesity range yet have healthy body composition…

> Everyone knows BMI is imperfect at this point, ...

Indeed.

BMI is the best thing that people can readily calculate with easily available equipment (a tape measure and scales either at home, gym, pharmacy, etc) plus some relatively basic maths or sticking the numbers into a website.

Measuring body fat using calipers is better but hugely error prone. Similar for waist/height ratios. Body fat scales can be wildly inaccurate.

BVI is far superior but very few people have access to the equipment needed to measure that.

So we're kind of stuck with BMI as the best "simple" measure.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#325

Post by jdhdjdjd333 »

siliconc0w wrote: post #318

This is why if we can get them down to ~$50 I think they are clearly +ROI just on the individual level. I snack, drink less, and feel like eating out significantly less. Or when I do those things, I eat the take-out meal over multiple-meals. 1-2 less takeaway meals and a svelter grocery bill due to the less booze or snacks probably is at least $50 if not more.

Something feels extremely dystopian about this statement that I cannot quite put my finger on.

I hate to say it, but I do not think taking meds to curb snacking sounds healthy. Just learn some self control.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#326

Post by zelos »

bargainbin wrote: post #131

We’re seeing similar in the UK, fast food restaurants are having to adapt and dieting companies have outright collapsed. Sounds conspiratorial, but when you look at the revenue impact this is having, the deluge of baseless articles about it making your eyes fall out or “users who stop taking it gain the weight back” or whatever malady they can make a tenuous link to, it all make a lot more sense. The biggest food com…

Regaining the weight quickly after stopping taking the drugs seems reasonably well substantiated? https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj-2025-085304

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#327

Post by s1artibartfast »

FatherOfCurses wrote: post #285
mistahenry wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Germany and Indonesia. It’s easier for me now back in the US than ever to eat healthy. I can buy pre-chopped Cole slaw, diced peppers / onions, etc. Whole Foods is best in class (Alnatura doesn’t come close) While to me, the layman, it seems health regulation in general in Europe is more conservative about what can be put on the body / be consumed, I think it’s mostly Americans don’t want to eat healthy. A…

Tons of Americans want to eat healthy but don't have the energy/time/access. It's easy to cook healthy for yourself if you're single, have a good work/life balance, and have a grocery store nearby. There are a lot of Americans who eat fast food on the go because it's their only option (or they haven't been educated on how to get healthy food quickly). Others have lives where job and family responsibilities sap so muc…

This is narrative ignores consumer preference. A salad can be delivered as easily as a pizza.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#328

Post by wongarsu »

tom_ wrote: post #299
wongarsu wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For good reason. That'd be a BMI of 47. There isn't a lot of statistical data for such high BMIs, but [1] lists prevalence of BMI>40. In Germany 1.2% of men and 2.8% of women had a BMI over 40 in 2011, in the US it was 5.6% and 9.7% respectively in 2016. That's nearly four times as many as in Germany. 1: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7078951/

The US population (~350m) is about 4 times that of Germany (~85m)...

Which has to be a pure coincidence, since the reported numbers are relative to population size. We could conclude that there are 4x4=16 times as many people with such high BMIs in the US, but that is not that useful

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#330

Post by s1artibartfast »

Aurornis wrote: post #200
juujian wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, whole foods is great, but if you look are they locations, name Americans don't have access to one and or cannot afford it.

Whole Foods isn’t the only store providing vegetables or pre-cut vegetables. Even my local Walmart has pre-cut vegetables. It’s not an affordability issue either. It’s cheaper to buy the same number of calories from vegetables, fruits, and legumes than meat right now. Meat prices are unusually high and it doesn’t seem to be slowing consumption.

Vegetables are pretty terrible for caloric sustenance. Low density and high price.
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