Using medication to lose weight is nothing new, but drugs making headlines these days are in a league of their own.
Data from an Everyday Health survey bears that out. Respondents who tried popular drugs that can lead to weight loss — including tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), and liraglutide (Saxenda) — cited them as the best way to lose weight. Those who used them were more likely to lose weight and to lose more than 20 pounds.
The findings come from an Everyday Health survey of more than 3,000 American adults. All the people who took part had attempted to lose weight at some point during the preceding six months.
The survey respondents answered questions about their approaches to weight loss. They shared what worked and what didn’t, their motivations for losing weight, and information about other aspects of their weight loss journey.
Here are some of the top-line survey findings about weight loss medications.
Key Finding 1: Most Users Believe That Weight Loss Medications Work
While a smaller percentage of survey respondents had tried prescription weight loss drugs, those who did rated them as highly effective. Nine percent of survey respondents had used prescription weight loss drugs Ozempic or Mounjaro, while 4 percent had used Wegovy or Saxenda. Roughly 3 out of 4 people who used these medicines named them the most effective weight loss tactic.
Experts say that this mirrors their own perception of the drugs. “In our field, I would say they’re revolutionary because they’re functioning so well,” says Kong Chen, PhD, a senior investigator in the metabolic clinical research unit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Other experts agree.
“Although often there is enthusiasm for new treatments, there are some that have certainly lived up to their expectations, and the GLP-1 medications are one of them,” says Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard-affiliated Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
Key Finding 2: Most Respondents Understand That These Drugs Suppress Appetite
“They appear to work directly on the higher cortical centers that regulate food intake,” says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. This leads to a drop in appetite.
In our survey, among those interested in trying the drugs if prescribed, 76 percent said they were aware that these drugs worked by suppressing appetite.
Ultimately, these drugs promote weight loss in several ways.
“[These new drugs] slow down the emptying of the stomach, and as a result, people are more full and eat less,” Dr. Gabbay says. “In addition, they appear to have some impact on centers in the brain responsible for appetite.”
While it’s possible that the drugs also increase a person’s metabolism and energy expenditure, Dr. Chen says that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Key Finding 3: Many People Aren’t Interested in Trying These Medications
Despite that, less than half of survey respondents said they were interested in trying the new weight loss medications. Even if a doctor prescribed these drugs to them, only about 1 in 3 respondents said they’d be willing to take these drugs.
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