Archive for the ‘Consumer Trends’ Category

Let’s be clear. Many reasons other than high obesity rates can explain the news of record low fertility rates in the U.S. Provisional data from the CDC show about 3.6 million births in 2025, with the general fertility rate dropping to 53.1 births per 1,000 women of reproductive age – continuing a decline that has […]

If you follow recent headlines, you might think obesity medicines are now a threat not just to excess weight, but to love and romance. A recent story in The Guardian explores viral claims that experimental drugs like retatrutide are making people “fall out of love.” Meanwhile, reporting amplified by The Telegraph suggests these medications could […]

“It’s just a tablet,” say the scoffers. Why are so many close observers of obesity care expressing such enthusiasm for approval of the first non-peptide GLP-1 oral tablet – the Foundayo brand of orforglipron from Lilly? Well actually, as one of those observers, we can think of a number of reasons to expect the Foundayo […]

Headlines about GLP-1 medicines have already stretched the imagination – from curbing addiction to reshaping the economics of food. Even boosting the profitability of airlines. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by a new analysis, published today in the Journal of Global Metabolic Systems, suggesting that widespread use of these medicines could play a meaningful […]

U.S. Health policy is in an unfortunately interesting place right now. CDC is in tatters. Our secretary of health has ripped up much of the vaccine policies that put an end to scourges like polio and measles. None of that seems like a winning agenda for the upcoming mid-term elections. So this administration is shifting […]

In a dim corner of drug regulation, we’re on the cusp of “a hot peptide summer.” That’s the word from Dean Stattmann at GQ. Writing as a men’s health and lifestyle reporter (not a health professional) he explains: “In late February, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Joe Rogan on his podcast, revealing that […]

We should have seen this coming. Grotesque burgers, exemplified by McDonald’s Big Arch, seem to be having a moment. This thousand-calorie burger is delivering on our health secretary’s promise that “beef is back.” In a big way. Inadvertently or not, the company’s CEO recently created a viral phenomenon for this burger. He posted a video […]

For decades, the way Americans get prescription drugs has followed a rigid and opaque path. Drugmakers sell to wholesalers. Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate rebates. Insurers design formularies. Employers buy coverage. Patients hope the drug they need makes it through the maze. But obesity medicines are starting to shake that system. A Different Option for Employers […]

The twisted relationship of Hims and Novo Nordisk took another sharp turn this week. Novo withdrew its patent infringement lawsuit against Hims & Hers – barely a month after filing the suit. The company is now crowing about selling its Ozempic and Wegovy products through “leading telehealth providers” like Hims. But they “reserve the right […]

Trends for metabolic and bariatric surgery are still wobbly as GLP-1 utilization continues to grow. This much is quite clear from a new research letter in JAMA Surgery. What is less clear is any consensus on where the trends will go as health systems and people living with obesity confront the reality of obesity as […]