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> 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 dru

by Aurornis 10mo ago

> 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 least one member on a GLP-1 is higher. This isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon, despite attempts to turn this into another America-bad comment thread. > It's insane to me that so many people need these to get off the processed foods killing them in the US. GLP-1 drugs don’t make people stop eating processed food. They reduce food intake and cravings. It’s still up to the user to make healthy choices about what to eat. Also it’s been about a decade since I visited family friends in Germany but there was plenty of processed food to be had when I was there, too.

deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
nwienert 10mo ago
Well said, to add though they do make you crave certain foods differently - fruit more, processed foods less.
CGMthrowaway 10mo ago
>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 10-20%. But since it's 16% on these drugs, and figure since they are Losing Weight (not maintaining), safe to say those 16% of Americans are eating 20-30% less... 20-30% times 16% = 3-5% decrease in spend. So it tracks, roughly. And we are not at the bottom yet.
- _alternator_ 10mo ago
  The decrease in spend was at the household level, not aggregate, so it’s a 5% decrease across 16% of households, or a bit less than 1% overall. The overall weight loss seems to be because the spending decreases most heavily in calorie dense foods like savory snacks; yogurt and fresh fruit spending goes up a bit.
- stewarts 10mo ago
  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?
  - jmpetroske 10mo ago
    As you gain weight, your base metabolic rate also increases. Having fat means you inherently burn more calories, even if you don’t exercise any more. Take one person, say they eat 2000 calories to maintain bodyweight. If they start eating 2500 calories a day, they won’t gain 1lb of fat a week forever. As they gain fat, their body naturally burns more calories due to the increased body weight, and eventually a stable weight (higher than their original weight) will be reached. So yeah if you’re eating 500 calories above your metabolic weight, you’ll theoretically gain weight forever. But in this case your metabolic rate is rising over time, so you would be eating more and more calories per day.
    - whatshisface 10mo ago
      Fat does not raise your metabolism by a lot (relatively), and tiny changes in diet lead to massive swings in the equilibrium implied by basal metabolic rate formulas. In fact, some formulas do not include weight due to body fat. If you think about it, that fact touches on the idea that your natural weight is being maintained by another body system, one related to GLP-1. By the way... if humans had to count calories to not accidentally starve or die from overeating, we would not have made it long enough as a species to invent a scientific way to do that. Even the diets of obese or overweight individuals are being naturally regulated, because anyone could physically eat even more.
__alexs 10mo ago
1 in 12 is wild. That means about 50% of all obese germans are on GLP-1s.
- kube-system 10mo ago
  Are overweight but non-obese people unable to get GLP1s in Germany?
  - __alexs 10mo ago
    You need a BMI >30 or a BMI >27 + some risk factor like high blood pressure.
  - roel_v 10mo ago
    Yes, anyone is able to 'get' GLP1 analogs, but your BMI and comorbidities (as well as purchasing power) determine the 'how' and the cost.
- phil21 10mo ago
  It also likely includes T2 diabetics, where these meds are more or less best-in-class treatment now.
Y_Y 10mo ago
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.
- rootusrootus 10mo ago
  > 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.
  - Y_Y 10mo ago
    Ah but you see that's unfair, because Europe has much better beers than Asia.
    - rootusrootus 10mo ago
      That is certainly true. But now I feel like we need to talk about beer in America. Because as much as I love a real German beer, the variety and quality of beers we have to choose from in America is pretty astonishing. At least it seems that way in my bubble (and it certainly helps that I live in an area of the PNW that has a high per-capita number of breweries).
      - ethbr1 10mo ago
        > the variety and quality of beers we have to choose from in America is pretty astonishing That feels like a 2000+ change though.
      - lII1lIlI11ll 10mo ago
        Yes, I still enjoy weissbier sometimes but currently mass-produced German beers can't hold a candle to all the incredible US craft breweries that popped up during the last two decades (Monkish, Other Half, Evil Twin, etc.)
rootusrootus 10mo ago
> Most people don’t announce when they’re taking a new medication. Indeed, I do not announce it even to many people in my own circle of friends and family. Plenty of people (as you can clearly see just in this discussion) see the issue as one of morality and the get very judgy. If you use medication to help yourself become healthier, you have cheated. Sometimes I wonder how much comes down to religion. After all, isn't gluttony one of the deadly sins?
- ethbr1 10mo ago
  > After all, isn't gluttony one of the deadly sins? Ergo its opposite is a missed branding opportunity for the religiously inclined: 'Ozempic: bring yourself closer to God'
NoLinkToMe 10mo ago
To be honest I don't even have a single fat friend, and I'm not picking my friends on looks. I couldn't imagine anywhere close to 1/6 taking this medication.

deleted 10mo ago

[deleted]

nwienert 10mo ago

Well said, to add though they do make you crave certain foods differently - fruit more, processed foods less.

CGMthrowaway 10mo ago

>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 10-20%. But since it's 16% on these drugs, and figure since they are Losing Weight (not maintaining), safe to say those 16% of Americans are eating 20-30% less... 20-30% times 16% = 3-5% decrease in spend. So it tracks, roughly. And we are not at the bottom yet.

_alternator_ 10mo ago
The decrease in spend was at the household level, not aggregate, so it’s a 5% decrease across 16% of households, or a bit less than 1% overall. The overall weight loss seems to be because the spending decreases most heavily in calorie dense foods like savory snacks; yogurt and fresh fruit spending goes up a bit.
stewarts 10mo ago
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?
- jmpetroske 10mo ago
  As you gain weight, your base metabolic rate also increases. Having fat means you inherently burn more calories, even if you don’t exercise any more. Take one person, say they eat 2000 calories to maintain bodyweight. If they start eating 2500 calories a day, they won’t gain 1lb of fat a week forever. As they gain fat, their body naturally burns more calories due to the increased body weight, and eventually a stable weight (higher than their original weight) will be reached. So yeah if you’re eating 500 calories above your metabolic weight, you’ll theoretically gain weight forever. But in this case your metabolic rate is rising over time, so you would be eating more and more calories per day.
  - whatshisface 10mo ago
    Fat does not raise your metabolism by a lot (relatively), and tiny changes in diet lead to massive swings in the equilibrium implied by basal metabolic rate formulas. In fact, some formulas do not include weight due to body fat. If you think about it, that fact touches on the idea that your natural weight is being maintained by another body system, one related to GLP-1. By the way... if humans had to count calories to not accidentally starve or die from overeating, we would not have made it long enough as a species to invent a scientific way to do that. Even the diets of obese or overweight individuals are being naturally regulated, because anyone could physically eat even more.

__alexs 10mo ago

1 in 12 is wild. That means about 50% of all obese germans are on GLP-1s.

kube-system 10mo ago
Are overweight but non-obese people unable to get GLP1s in Germany?
- __alexs 10mo ago
  You need a BMI >30 or a BMI >27 + some risk factor like high blood pressure.
- roel_v 10mo ago
  Yes, anyone is able to 'get' GLP1 analogs, but your BMI and comorbidities (as well as purchasing power) determine the 'how' and the cost.
phil21 10mo ago
It also likely includes T2 diabetics, where these meds are more or less best-in-class treatment now.

Y_Y 10mo ago

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.

rootusrootus 10mo ago
> 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.
- Y_Y 10mo ago
  Ah but you see that's unfair, because Europe has much better beers than Asia.
  - rootusrootus 10mo ago
    That is certainly true. But now I feel like we need to talk about beer in America. Because as much as I love a real German beer, the variety and quality of beers we have to choose from in America is pretty astonishing. At least it seems that way in my bubble (and it certainly helps that I live in an area of the PNW that has a high per-capita number of breweries).
    - ethbr1 10mo ago
      > the variety and quality of beers we have to choose from in America is pretty astonishing That feels like a 2000+ change though.
    - lII1lIlI11ll 10mo ago
      Yes, I still enjoy weissbier sometimes but currently mass-produced German beers can't hold a candle to all the incredible US craft breweries that popped up during the last two decades (Monkish, Other Half, Evil Twin, etc.)

rootusrootus 10mo ago

> Most people don’t announce when they’re taking a new medication. Indeed, I do not announce it even to many people in my own circle of friends and family. Plenty of people (as you can clearly see just in this discussion) see the issue as one of morality and the get very judgy. If you use medication to help yourself become healthier, you have cheated. Sometimes I wonder how much comes down to religion. After all, isn't gluttony one of the deadly sins?

ethbr1 10mo ago
> After all, isn't gluttony one of the deadly sins? Ergo its opposite is a missed branding opportunity for the religiously inclined: 'Ozempic: bring yourself closer to God'

NoLinkToMe 10mo ago

To be honest I don't even have a single fat friend, and I'm not picking my friends on looks. I couldn't imagine anywhere close to 1/6 taking this medication.