Ozempic Killed Diet and Exercise

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has some thoughts about Ozempic. According to the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, the government should not provide the drug for millions of Americans, but instead address obesity and diabetes by handing out organic food and gym memberships. Like many of RFK’s statements, these ideas have elicited some outrage. Their basic premise, though—that Americans should control their weight by eating better and getting exercise—could not be more mainstream.

But this commonsense philosophy of losing weight, as espoused by RFK, the FDA, and really almost any doctor whom you might have asked at any time in recent memory, has lately fallen out of step with the scientific evidence.

Lifestyle interventions have been central to the nation’s to curb its rates of chronic illness. Eat less, move more: This advice applies to almost everyone, but for those who have obesity or are overweight—about three-quarters of the adult population in the U.S.—dieting and exercise are understood to be among the most important methods to improve their without the need for surgery, changes to behavior still take precedence. Formal for obesity have affirmed RFK’s approach, more or less, and argued that “lifestyle therapy remains the cornerstone of treatment.” And according to the government, the drugs themselves are fit for use only “” to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.