What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Associated PressNEW YORK — Ever since college, Brad Jobling struggled with his weight, fluctuating between a low of 155 pounds when he was in his 30s to as high as 220. He’s lost 30 pounds, and has started eating healthier food and exercising — the habits behind many commercial diet plans and decades of conventional wisdom on sustainable weight loss. “This is a paradigm shift because weight loss has been and, unfortunately, often still is viewed as a vanity issue.” The Mayo Clinic, which first offered a weight management plan in book form in 1949, has published an updated version of the longtime bestseller, titled “The Mayo Clinic Diet: Weight-Loss Medications Edition.” The Mayo Clinic Diet program also has expanded to include access to weight loss drugs and advice on managing any side effects, according to Digital Wellness CEO Scott Penn, whose company developed an online platform for the original program. Members of the Miora program also can get Ozempic and other weight loss drugs through the medical staff of a clinic that opened in Minneapolis last year. Sales of SlimFast, a line of meal replacement shakes and snacks sold at supermarkets, have dropped as people turn to weight loss drugs and retailers cut shelf space for diet products, the brand’s parent company, Glanbia, told investors in February.