Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy • Hacker News Board

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#441

Post by HDThoreaun » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

Esophagus4 wrote: post #119

blitzar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your friend circle in Germany probably doesn't have many members who were a proud big boned 5"7' 300lbs (~140kg).

In my (obviously anecdotal) experience, that’s not who the primary GLP1 user is. It’s the suburban mom (or dad sometimes) who wants help losing a little weight. Instead of being 300lbs like your example, she’s 160lbs and wants to be 140lbs.

I really feel like this is just about the circle you are in. How many 300lb people do you know? 16% of the country is on GLP-1's as of mid 2024, Im sure its higher now. Every single massively overweight person I know has at least tried GLP-1s

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#442

Post by lm28469 » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:11 PM UTC

staticassertion wrote: post #428

lm28469 wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah right, I'm obviously an elite genetical specimen and 75% of people are simply dumb animals with insane amount of cravings I cannot even begin to comprehend. And these people didn't exist 45 years ago. Feel free to guide me to the literature explaining these phenomenons, it seems extremely interesting, I'm especially interested in knowing how the genetics of 3/4th of the population somehow converged to this "unco…

I'm not talking to you about obesity. I'm talking to you about the idiotic statement that you have insight into the qualia of other people. Everything else you're saying is irrelevant, I'm not trying to explain all obesity or whatever by appealing to cravings, I'm saying you're an idiot if you think you have insight into qualia.

But surely you realise something doesn't add up... Either cravings somehow automagically drastically changed in two generations or you're plain wrong.

> you have insight into the qualia of other people.

Yeah that's called statistics, averages, &c.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#443

Post by lm28469 » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

HDThoreaun wrote: post #436

lm28469 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is also a genetic struggle as well. Weird that it virtually did not exist pre ww2 and that it now affects 75%+ of your population

Many people pre ww2 were perpetually hungry. Now they can afford as much food as they want

Obesity rate more than tripled since the 80s (1980s), people had already access to more than enough food to become obese in 1980 USA, so this alone doesn't explain much

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#444

Post by blitzar » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

wongarsu wrote: post #328

tom_ wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Several studies conducted during the last 50 years have shown that lower intelligence is associated with a higher body mass index.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#445

Post by elictronic » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

bigfishrunning wrote: post #211

blell wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain you can't. You need to be authorised by a doctor to buy those drugs.

This is also true in the US -- these are prescription drugs.

This is not exactly correct. The fda approved named items require a prescription. However from the shortage years ago compounding pharmacies were allowed to sell alternative versions. Basically they add a B vitamin to the normal drug and boom non prescription GLP1.

With this one simple trick Denmarks GDP goes down by multiple % points.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#446

Post by tsimionescu » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #265

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 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…

These calorie numbers don't make much sense to me. The typical recommendation for how much a man should eat is 2000-2800 Cal/day, and for the average woman that is 1600-2200 Cal/day, depending on age and exercise levels [0]. So if it were true that the average American ate 3600 Cal/day, they would be eating 800-2000 excess Cal, not 400-700.

Even if we assumed that average food cost/Cal is a meaningful concept, the reduction would be much higher.

[0] https://www.ummhealth.org/health-library/eating-the-right-nu...

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#447

Post by seanmcdirmid » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

carlmr wrote: post #6

>The share of U.S. households reporting at least one user rose from about 11% in late 2023 to more than 16% by mid-2024. 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. In my friend circle in Germany I don't even know one single person on this stuff. It's insane to me that so many people need these to get off the processed foods killing them…

There are vast differences in obesity rates between rural and urban areas, and red states vs blue states. Someone in San Francisco California is going to see a lot less obesity than someone in Plano Texas. I’m sure it is similar in Europe, with the caveat that Europeans are healthier than Americans in general.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#448

Post by HDThoreaun » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

insane_dreamer wrote: post #303

quitit wrote: post #36

This headline is a touch misleading as it gives the impression of being across all US households, the quote is: >Within six months of starting a GLP-1 medication, households reduce grocery spending by an average of 5.3%. Among higher-income households, the drop is even steeper, at more than 8%. Spending at fast-food restaurants, coffee shops and other limited-service eateries falls by about 8%.

That's not "a touch" misleading. It's very misleading.

Unless the title was changed, it says "average" which to me pretty clearly means it's measuring individual or household consumption

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#449

Post by SkyPuncher » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

giuliomagnifico wrote: post #7

nemomarx wrote: post #2

> “The data show clear changes in food spending following adoption,” Hristakeva said. “After discontinuation, the effects become smaller and harder to distinguish from pre-adoption spending patterns.” It's interesting that overall spending doesn't decrease that much in the end, although shifting from snacks to fruit is the kind of change health advocates have always wanted?

After discontinuation of Ozempic, people start to gain the weight again (and buy again more food), that’s why the spending changes again.

Processed foods are much cheaper per calorie than "healthy" options.

GLP-1 helped me kick my cravings for junk food, but that just meant I was eating more of the "expensive" stuff. Instead of $0.50 worth of Doritos as a snack, I'm eating $1.50 worth of Greek yogurt and $1.50 worth of fruit.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#450

Post by CGMthrowaway » Mon, Jan 12, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

jjk166 wrote: post #353

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…

> 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 10-20%. You're falsely assuming a 1:1 ratio between calories and cost. Unfortunately the big problem with ultra processed food is that calorie rich but nutrient deficient food is way chea…

>You're falsely assuming a 1:1 ratio between calories and cost

Not falsely. Back of the envelope. If you want to improve the model go right ahead, but I was upfront with its limitations.