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Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

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Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#511

Post by zahlman »

jjk166 wrote: post #427
bluedino wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can buy a bag of apples for less than what a pack of Little Debbie snacks cost.

You're probably not living off either. Deserts are visible - obviously a pack of Little Debbies has no nutritional value and is purely excess calories - but what fraction of your total calories are coming from deserts? The real issue is excess calories in your regular food consumption, such as large portions. Indeed, if your meals were filling you, you probably wouldn't even be snacking to begin with. When comparing…

> When comparing things like bread and butter, the ultra processed versions are much cheaper.

I can't even fathom what you have in mind as "the ultra processed version of butter". Margarine is a completely different product from a different source.

Bread is a relative luxury regardless. The sponge-foam "wonder" stuff isn't even the cheapest for sale here generally. But even then, typical bread is (adding up the macros) only about 60% actual grain by weight (the rest mostly water), going by the nutrition label; so a kilogram of whole grain whatever equates to nearly two and a half loaves. Even whole rolled oats are much less expensive, on this basis, than the cheapest bread I can find and it's not complicated to cook them.

At any rate, bread and butter are two of the worst possible examples to make a claim about energy density in "healthy" versus "processed" options. Grain is grain (overwhelmingly carbohydrate and almost no water beside what is added in cooking or baking) and fat is fat.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#512

Post by Nasrudith »

lm28469 wrote: post #381
FatherOfCurses wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope one day you'll realize how easy it is to be judgmental on the internet and think of people you don't know as somehow less than human. If you think people who "can't control what you put in your mouth" are incapable of self control, you should see the amount of self control it took me not to post the things I wanted to post about you. Try to have more empathy and compassion in your life.

> Try to have more empathy and compassion in your life. My position is way more empathetic than the other side who think people are dumb beasts or cattle who can't do anything about their conditions and need external magic pills to save them from themselves

You don't actually know the definition of empathy, do you?

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#513

Post by rmonvfer »

alexfoo wrote: post #488
jollyllama wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is more insightful than it may appear initially. It looks like the 5% drop is in comparison to the pre-Ozempic spending. To what extent is the cut on spending monetary i.e. "I am spending more on this drug and will cut back my other expenses." Sure, Ozempic will kill the cravings, and that is probably the main driver, but from a 5000 foot view, this is using money to buy drugs instead of foods. In a very…

> "I am spending more on this drug... I'm in the UK and got my ADHD diagnosis on the NHS (well, via Right To Choose) so the maximum I'll ever pay for my medication is about US$150/year. [1] If I had a private diagnosis I'd be paying about half that a month for the same medication. Anyone with a BMI over 35 is likely to qualify for GLP-1 type drugs on the NHS too. Not sure how long they'll keep prescribing them to you…

That’s crazy cheap, I pay close to 400€ (!!!) monthly for Tirzepatide (GLP-1) and close to 50€ for Lisdexamfetamine (ADHD) in Spain. Truth be told, the ADHD meds are covered by the Social Security health insurance or I’d be paying double that, but I don’t think GLP-1s will ever be covered here.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#514

Post by rootusrootus »

lm28469 wrote: post #443
HDThoreaun wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It went up sharply in all countries. What is the common factor, if it is not the cultural moral failure you are painting it to be?

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#515

Post by NeutralCrane »

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…

It’s not just the processed foods. It’s the sedentary lifestyle. US cities are so car centric that actually getting a minimal baseline of healthy activity requires working into one’s schedule. When I lived in Japan, everything is so walkable/bikable that it makes a significant difference in the base activity level of average individual. I imagine Europe is similar.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#516

Post by Drupon »

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…

Look he's doing the "we are not like that in Germany" meme

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#517

Post by rootusrootus »

jacobthesnakob wrote: post #390
jrockway wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is taking it for weight loss such a bad thing? It improves quality of life, health, reduces risk when surgery is needed, etc., etc. Why create a new account just to litigate how statistically relevant the grandparent comment's anecdote is?

>It improves quality of life, health, reduces risk when surgery is needed, And as pointed out elsewhere in this thread, needs to be taken forever as the vast majority of patients regain most or all of the weight they lose after taking GLP-1s. >Why create a new account just to litigate how statistically relevant the grandparent comment's anecdote is? Red herring. My account was not created today, I’ve participated in…

> needs to be taken forever

Oh well. I'll be taking my omeprazole medication for the rest of my life, too. Sometimes the body has a chronic issue that needs lifetime management, frequently with medication. Only with GLP1 does this suddenly seem like a moral issue for some.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#518

Post by zahlman »

darkwater wrote: post #372
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you think of it in the context of a person with not much cash or time to work with, there's other advantages Little Debbie brings... - It's extremely unlikely that any of the snack cakes in a particular box on the shelf have gone bad or have rotten areas. They must carefully inspect a bag of apples for brown spots or risk getting less usable product than they paid for. - The snack cakes can sit at home for a rea…

Yep, totally agree. Point 3 is probably a bit moot with apples but applies to almost every vegetable out there. But IMO the best selling point for unhealthy, sugar-rich snacks is easy of storage. You go to the supermarket and can buy 1 month of snacks easily, you cannot do it with fruits.

I buy 3-pound bags of dried fruit all the time.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#519

Post by rootusrootus »

aidenn0 wrote: post #393
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…

I live in the US. If those numbers are true, then it seems likely that I know at least one person on it. I however don't know that I know someone one it, since people (at least in the US) don't usually announce "Hi everybody, I'm taking weight loss drugs." Being overweight is seen as shameful, and losing weight through any means other than diet and exercise is an admission of failure.

The best part is feeling the judgement from someone who thinks taking GLP1s is a moral failure when they are carrying an extra 50+ pounds themselves. I have met many people who seem to believe that being fat is actually the higher moral ground than using medication to help solve it. And these are religious people, too! Don't they know about gluttony?

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#520

Post by rootusrootus »

Ensorceled wrote: post #56
seedless-sensat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not American, but I think you are unfairly dismissing the massive benefits GLP-1s have for people who struggle to maintain a healthy diet. It really feels like a miracle drug. > It's insane to me that so many people need these to get off the processed foods killing them in the US. Your comparison of your friends in Germany vs "insanity" in the US doesn't feel relevant

I think you are misreading the comment you are replying to: > Your comparison of your friends in Germany vs "insanity" in the US doesn't feel relevant It's incredibly relevant, why are GLP-1s less needed in Germany vs. US (and other countries like Canada)? This is the insanity they are talking about, not the users of the medication.

> It's incredibly relevant, why are GLP-1s less needed in Germany vs. US

Aside from whether the local healthcare coverage will pay for it, and the rate of GLP1 usage probably being proportional to the obesity rate, what is the basis for assuming there is disproportionately fewer people in Germany using these medications? Most people don't announce it.

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