Episode Details

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?