11% of Americans now take a GLP-1, and the obesity rate is falling

One in nine Americans now takes a GLP-1 medication for weight loss, a record 11% and up 3% from 2024. The national obesity rate fell to 36.4% in 2026 from a record high of 39.9% in 2022, and the diabetes rate has stayed flat for the past few years.

Public understanding improved almost as fast as the prescriptions did: 91% of respondents in 2026 knew these drugs could treat weight loss, against 80% in 2024. That does not mean the medicines explain the drop. A poll records what people report about themselves, and a public health curve this size has more than one hand on it.

Cost is doing its own sorting underneath the headline number. 68% of users reported taking a name brand from a major drugmaker while 19% said they took custom-mixed versions instead, and among the people who moved off a name brand, 66% named the price of those drugs and 34% named problems with insurance coverage. For a household, a national health trend arrives as a monthly budget decision.

Read the full story at Forbes ↗

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