Michael Olson hosts. Dr. Keith Kantor, Trichologist and Author What Matters
Diabetes costs the United States $640 billion a year. What if we could take a pill, lose the weight, then put all that diabetes money into the bank.
Topics include how prescription GLP-1s work to help people lose weight; whether GLP-1s might be an effective way for the U.S. to reduce the number of its obese and the cost of its diabetes; and a look at the potential side-effects of using GLP-1s.
Consider some very big numbers: 42.7% of those who live in the United States are obese, and 15% have diabetes.
The diabetes number grows, because there is a very strong correlation between body mass index and propensity to develop diabetes.
According to the Center for Disease Control, the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes was $640 billion per year in medical costs and lost productivity.
That is nearly two-thirds of a trillion dollars per year – Gone!
In 2005, GLP-1s hit the market, and the weight began peeling off the body politic. The cost for this prescription medication starts at around $39 per month, which given the cost of diabetes, would seem to be a very good deal.
But then the hair started falling out, the muscles weakened, and the gut complained. Given the strange side-effects, some began to ask:
Are GLP-1s too good to be true?
