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Fortune
Fortune
Lindsey Leake

Most Americans seeking weight loss don’t want to take GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, new survey says

Despite the ubiquitousness of injectable GLP-1 drugs indicated for people with obesity, most Americans wouldn’t take them, according to a September 2024 survey from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. (Credit: Choi Dongsu—Getty Images)

GLP-1s, or glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist drugs, are seemingly everywhere. In recent years, this class of weight-loss and Type 2 diabetes medication has become not only a household name but inescapable. Shortages have dominated news headlines, and singsong commercials have taken over airwaves. GLP-1s have gone so far as to disrupt the food, clothing, and, of course, weight-loss industries.

Yet despite the ubiquitousness of injectable drugs indicated for people with obesity—such as Wegovy (semaglutide), Zepbound (tirzepatide), and Saxenda (liraglutide)—most Americans wouldn’t take them, according to a new survey.

The nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine teamed up with business intelligence firm Morning Consult to survey more than 2,200 U.S. adults about weight-loss methods. Results of the poll, conducted in September, were released Oct. 8.

People were asked to rate their level of agreement with this statement: “If I wanted to lose weight, I would rather take an injectable weight-loss drug, rather than make a diet change.” More than half (62%) disagreed, with 14% reporting the statement didn’t apply to them because they don’t need to lose weight. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of applicable respondents disagreed.

Among people who were interested in weight loss, these groups most strongly disagreed:

  • Men: 75%
  • Baby boomers: 78%
  • Asian or “other”: 77%
  • Postgraduate-degree holders: 79%
  • Household income exceeds $100K: 78%
  • Urban dwellers: 75%
  • Northeasterners: 77%
  • Registered voters: 73%
  • Independent voters: 74%

“The new findings do not mean that Americans do not want to lose weight,” PCRM president Dr. Neal Barnard said in a news release about the survey. “Rather, most would prefer to change their eating habits than inject a medication.”

View this interactive chart on Fortune.com

For more on weight management:

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