Can Ozempic make America slim again? RFK Jr and Musk are at odds
New York: For Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the activist whom US President-elect Donald Trump will nominate to serve as the secretary of health and human services, the solution to obesity in America now at 40 per cent of adults is straightforward: The first line of response should be lifestyle, he told Jim Cramer in a December 12 interview on CNBC.
Elon Musk, the technology billionaire who advises the president-elect, sees things differently: Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public, he wrote on the social platform X, referring to the new class of drugs that cause weight loss, including Ozempic. Nothing else is even close. (GLP is Glucagon-like peptide, a hormone produced in the gut and released in response to food.)
And there, with the contrasting views of two men in Trumps ear, lie two sides of an issue that is plaguing health and nutrition researchers. Is it even possible to change lifestyles and the food environment enough to solve Americas obesity problem? And, if not, do we really want to solve it by putting millions of people on powerful drugs? What is the right balance between the two approaches?
Many people find that eating well is easier said than done. Food companies have saturated the United States and other nations with seductively cheap and tasty things to eat, available seemingly everywhere and around the clock. Obesity researchers suspect the current food environment has allowed many Americans to be as overweight as they possibly can be.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/can-ozempic-make-america-slim-again-rfk-jr-and-musk-are-at-odds-20241219-p5kzkm.html
Archive: https://archive.md/OBN0l
Silent Type
(7,323 posts)in relation to cost of obesity, etc.
tulipsandroses
(6,240 posts)I don't think you can get testosterone from that farm he wants to send people to. His body, his choice to shoot up testosterone. He has no business making any health care decision for the rest of us.
Polybius
(18,352 posts)From what I've seen, if you have low testosterone, bringing it to normal level is fine. Bringing it a bit higher than average is ok too, as long as it's not way above normal levels for that age.
Sylvester Stallone is on some serious stuff, but still kicking at 78.
mchill
(1,099 posts)The reason GLP-1s work to help obesity, this cohort has a deficiency of this hormone and why they are obese! They could change their lifestyle and go into calorie deficit (like many have done repeatedly in their lives) and not lose a pound.
Elon Musk is likely ignorant of this too. Most are and think obesity equals gluttony.
Avalon Sparks
(2,619 posts)And may still be taking it
I think the cretin gets it, but that may be the only thing he gets. lol
You are 100% correct about the deficiency of the hormone causing the problem in the first place. I love the way you put that explanation!
mchill
(1,099 posts)He seems to have lost weight this year.
But keeping it from others would not be a problem for these three.
Avalon Sparks
(2,619 posts)Avalon Sparks
(2,619 posts)Finally had a chance to read the whole article.
Not one mention of Leptin resistance.
Which is the hormone and the root of the problem. If your brain isnt getting enough of the hormone, it basically will do everything to trick you into eating more, feeling hungry and craving high calorie food. It thinks you are too skinny, even if you weigh a ton.
The shot immediately corrects the problem.
The life style changes emphasized again and again in the article as the best way to lose weight then happen naturally and fairly easily when taking the medicine.
Its a genetic medical problem to start, and it gets worse with the more fat cells one has.
Fuck FRK
patricia92243
(12,872 posts)RussBLib
(9,709 posts)....that use of GLP-1 is linked to an increase in blindness.
Lose weight! Go blind! No thanks!