You probably know someone who has started taking Ozempic or Wegovy over the past couple of years. The weekly shot has moved from doctor's offices into everyday conversation at the kitchen table.
A new Gallup survey finds that 11 percent of US adults currently take a GLP-1 medication for weight loss. That is up from 3 percent two years ago.
Over the same stretch, the US adult obesity rate has slipped from a 2022 peak of 39.9 percent. It now stands at 36.8 percent, the lowest level in Gallup's recent tracking.
The poll was conducted May 28 to June 5, 2026, among 5,065 US adults. Awareness has climbed alongside use, with nine in ten Americans saying they have now heard of the drugs.
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The drugs are moving well beyond diabetes care
GLP-1 medicines started out as diabetes treatments. They copy a gut hormone that signals the brain to feel full and slows how fast the stomach empties.
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy. Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound.
A 2025 narrative review in eClinicalMedicine summarized a widening list of uses, from kidney protection and liver disease to sleep apnea and heart failure. The authors noted that GLP-1 drugs cut the rate of major heart events in diabetes patients at high risk.
Heart benefits are emerging as a reason to prescribe
A separate study of about 26,000 US adults with both obesity and an autoimmune disease found striking drops in serious complications among those on a GLP-1 drug. The findings were highlighted by the American Heart Association.
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Users had a 44 percent lower risk of dying from any cause during the study period. A blood clot in the lungs was 31 percent less common. Stroke risk was 13 percent lower.
Lead researcher Amy Sheer, an obesity medicine physician at the University of Florida, said the group had long been short on data. "This is a high-risk population, and historically we've had limited data to guide treatment decisions," she said.
The FDA cleared Wegovy for weight loss in 2021 and Zepbound in November 2023. Gallup analysts say the broader supply that has arrived since then is likely driving the sharp rise in reported use.
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This article is made and published by Aksel Kryhlmand, who may have used AI in the preparation.