The Demand for Ozempic: More Waffle House Than Whole Foods
Narratives are powerful. One of the early dominant narratives of the rising demand for Ozempic and related drugs was all about Hollywood, appearances, and privilege. But Bloomberg has a counter-narrative for us. The center of gravity for Ozempic demand is not Hollywood. It’s really Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The food environment here is more Waffle House than Whole Foods.
Ozempictown, USA
Writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, Madison Muller, Devin Leonard, and Tanaz Meghjani declare that Ozempic has taken Bowling Green by storm:
“The official web page for the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau boasts that, ‘according to local lore,’ the city has more restaurants per capita than any other in the US.
“Bowling Green can now boast of something else: It’s Ozempictown, USA. Kentucky has the highest concentration of people with weight-loss drug prescriptions in the country, according to data from PurpleLab Inc., which tracks most scripts covered by insurance companies. In Bowling Green and its surrounding area, at least 4% of residents have received prescriptions to take one of these medications in the past year or so—putting it ahead of other major population centers in the state. (For comparison, prescription rates in Brooklyn, New York, and the Miami area are closer to 1%.) And these are conservative estimates. PurpleLab doesn’t count people who are paying out of pocket or using copycat versions of the drugs often sold at smaller pharmacies, online telehealth operations and medical spas, which are significant and growing parts of the weight-loss drug economy, particularly in Bowling Green.”
Image, Health, and Real Life
For those who think of weight in terms of vanity and lifestyle, the Hollywood narrative is quite appealing. But the epidemiology of obesity tells us that the medical need for advanced obesity drugs like semaglutide is more likely higher in Bowling Green than Hollywood. Obesity prevalence in Kentucky is among the highest in the U.S.
Celebrity stories about weight loss make good clickbait, so it is little wonder that the Hollywood narrative holds such attention in public discourse.
But if we can set that aside and focus on the real lives of people with real medical needs, it becomes easier to see that the need for obesity care might indeed be highest in the heartland of our country.
This report gives us a lot to think about.
Click here for free access (expires 18 Aug) to the reporting by Muller, Leonard, and Meghjani.
Waffle House, photograph by Mbrickn, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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August 11, 2024
