Popular drugs like Ozempic are now part of official World Health Organization recommendations to treat obesity, alongside diet and exercise interventions
The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially added GLP-1s — which include medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound — to its suggested treatment plan, a major update to the organization’s guidelines, which previously focused only on behavioral interventions for exercise and healthy diets.
“The guidelines recognize obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease requiring lifelong care and emphasize early diagnosis and integrated, person-centered approaches combining behavioral, medical, surgical and other interventions alongside prevention and management of comorbidities,” the authors wrote in guidelines, published in the medical journal JAMA.
GLP-1 medications work by reducing appetite and increasing satiety, with their potential benefits only becoming more prevalent.
A recent report from Reinsurance Group of America reflected that by 2045, anti-obesity medications like GLP-1s could reduce mortality in the U.S. by 3.5%, 2.0% in the UK, 2.6% in Canada and 1.4% in Hong Kong. In the most optimistic of cases, it could reduce deaths by nearly 9% in America.
With over one billion people affected by obesity and cases rising in nearly every country, according to the WHO, those drops in deaths could impact millions. In 2024, there were 3.7 million obesity-related deaths from noncommunicable diseases, making up 12% of all deaths from noncommunicable diseases worldwide, the WHO authors noted.
“GLP-1 therapies mark more than a scientific breakthrough,” they wrote. “They represent a new chapter in the gradual conceptual shift in how society approaches obesity — from a ‘lifestyle condition’ to a complex, preventable, and treatable chronic disease.”
Obesity’s burden transcends mortality rates, with global costs predicted to be $3 trillion per year by 2030 as rates reach 30%, absorbing up to 18% of national health expenditure, the guidelines point out.
It’s important to note that while the WHO embraces GLP-1 treatment, it continues to double-down on intensive behavioral therapy, which it defines as: “structured goal setting for physical exercise and diet, energy intake restriction, weekly counseling sessions and routine assessments of progress.”
The WHO recognizing GLP-1s could support the American fitness industry — last year, investment banking firm Harrison Co. found the total addressable market for U.S. fitness clubs was expected to increase by $6.8 billion as a result of more people taking the medications.
The new guidelines could also help validate the roles of personal trainers and nutrition coaches, who say their jobs are increasingly shifting from being workout instructors to partners in a weight-loss journey bolstered by GLP-1s. People taking the drugs are now not only concerned about losing weight, but losing the right kind of weight while maintaining lean mass and building healthy, longevity-driven habits, trainers have said.
In its guidelines, the WHO acknowledged that long-term data is limited, and global implementation will be a challenge without addressing factors like health system readiness, equity, patient priorities and cost.
“Medication alone cannot solve the global obesity burden,” the officials stated.
“The availability of GLP-1 therapies should galvanize the global community to build a fair, integrated, and sustainable obesity ecosystem,” they continued. “Countries must ensure equitable access not only to comprehensive disease management, but also to health promotion and prevention policies and interventions targeting the general population and those at high risk.”
