Robert F. Kennedy Junior wants to reduce the country’s dependence on Ozempic, claiming that Americans addicted to the drug are “stupid” and “addicted.”
Estimates suggest that more than 9 million prescriptions for Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs are written each year in the United States, one of the fattest countries in the world.
But Kennedy says the money spent on medication — up to $1,600 a month — would be better suited to providing families with balanced, healthy meals.
The candidate for secretary of Health and Human Services said on the late-night show Gutfeld! last month: ‘We are spending 1.6 thousand dollars a month on this medicine. There is a bill right now before Congress that will make it available to all overweight people… that alone will cost 3 billion dollars a year.
“If we spent about a fifth of that amount on feeding every man, woman and child in our country well, three meals a day, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight.”
Kennedy, a famous vaccine skeptic who claims that WiFi causes cancer and that AIDS is not caused by HIV, also said that pharmaceutical companies were taking advantage of Americans and claimed that Ozempic is not recommended in the country where it is available. invented, which is not entirely true. accurate.
Authorities in Denmark, home of its manufacturer Novo Nordisk, have approved Ozempic for type 2 diabetics and Wegovy for weight loss patients, and nearly 100,000 prescriptions are now issued each year.
But they are urging doctors to prescribe cheaper alternatives, saying people need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the shots before reaping substantial health benefits.
Kennedy is pictured above on the show talking about Ozempic.
Speaking on the program, RFK added: “They manufacture this medicine in Denmark and in Denmark they do not recommend it for diabetes or obesity.” They recommend dietary or behavioral changes.
“They (Novo Nordisk, its manufacturer) are counting on selling it to Americans because we are very stupid and addicted to drugs.”
About 74 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to the CDC, the highest level ever recorded.
Studies suggest that people can lose between one and two pounds per week with Ozempic or Wegovy, but much of this weight loss comes from losing muscle mass rather than fat.
Doctors who prescribe the drug already ask patients to follow a healthy, protein-rich diet and adopt an active lifestyle.
This is to help them maintain muscle mass and to help ensure that someone does not gain weight again when they stop taking the medication.
Kennedy made the comments after being asked about a separate study that suggested Ozempic reduced the risk of alcohol abuse by 50 percent.
This may indicate a reduced risk of mental health problems, although some reports previously suggested that the drug could cause depression and suicidal thoughts.
“I need to look at the methodology of that study because I don’t believe it,” he said.
“The EU is currently investigating Ozempic for suicidal ideation, but it may be that the drug suppresses reward pathways, so it makes you want to do less things, and that may be part of the answer.”
It did so in October, after the EU’s medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said there was “no link” between the drug and suicidal thoughts.
The FDA also concluded in August that there was no increased risk of suicide among patients taking Ozempic compared to those not taking the drug.
He’s shown above taking a break from Make America Healthy Again while eating some McDonald’s on Trump’s plane.
Doctors still say, however, that patients taking the drug may have ended up struggling with feelings of sadness if they had used food as a “coping mechanism.”
However, Ozempic brings a number of health benefits to weight loss, including a lower risk of heart attack and a feeling of greater confidence in a person’s appearance.
In a landmark trial of 17,000 overweight or obese patients, researchers found that Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease by 20 percent compared to those not taking the drug.
Doctors who responded to RFK’s comments accused him of spreading misinformation.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota, said cnn: ‘He acts like he knows what he’s talking about when he doesn’t.
And he says things with a definition that convinces people that he has the data to back up his statements.
“Trying to follow him and understand what he’s talking about is often like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.”
The ‘Make America Healthy Again’ activist has vowed to improve the country’s health by cracking down on processed foods and additives, a move cautiously welcomed by many public health activists.
He has promised to start trying to remove processed foods from school cafeterias on his first day in office and ban hyperactivity-related dyes used in foods like Froot Loops and Skittles.