Interest in Ozempic as a way to lose weight has only been outmatched by demand for the drug, which has been in short supply as celebrities and social media influencers continue to popularize its use. The Type 2 diabetes treatment, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017, has become a catch-all term for a class of medications now used to treat obesity, including Wegovy, Zepbound and others. The efficacy of these drugs have some in the medical community pondering if we are on a path to effectively eliminating obesity by treating it as a chronic disease, rather than solely treating the diseases most often related to it.

Kai invites Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician scientist and associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, to explain how these latest weight loss treatments work, and who can (and can’t) access them. Plus, Ronald Young Jr., host of the podcast Weight For It, joins the show to share his experience and express some concerns about how Ozempic and similar drugs have dominated the conversation about our bodies and our health. And we hear from listeners around the country who weigh in with their questions and stories.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

What the Ozempic Craze Means for Our Personal Health

Notes from America with Kai Wright