by One of the cities in Kentucky has become the largest ozempic therapy center in the United States, despite being considered a Hollywood weight loss wonder.
Bowling Green, just an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee, has had the highest prescription rates in the country for the diabetes treatment, which has become a method for losing unwanted weight, Bloomberg reported.
Its usage is 4% of all city residents, about 3% higher than rates seen in major metropolitan areas like Brooklyn and Miami. Census data shows that Bowling Green’s population is just over 72,000 with a median household income of about $46,000.
“We’re redneck enough to be fat, but smart enough to do something about it,” retired teacher Mary Sansom told the outlet.
The data also highlights that as a state, Kentucky relies heavily on Ozempic and its counterparts like Wegovy or Zepbound. It has been reported that nearly 1 in 15 people, or 6.8% of the total population, are prescribed one of them.
“Ozempic and Wegovy, that’s all I hear,” added Brianna Tooley, a pharmacist at Walgreens in Bowling Green.
Efforts to curb the obesity problem, or “do something about it,” as Sansom put it, also bring other problems, as imitations of miracle cures continually appear on a hungry market. Pharmacies have also begun marketing similar products.
Candace Sims, a 25-year-old GNC store manager in the area, remembers her son taking a generic supplement meant to settle his stomach and becoming sick for weeks afterward.
“He just wanted to try it, because all his friends were doing it,” she said.
Medical spas and weight loss clinics have also entered the competitive health care industry by writing prescriptions for these drugs.
Marie Ellis, a resident who lost 80 pounds on the similar drug Mounjaro after doubting it was only for Hollywood types when she still weighed 260 pounds, has joined a spa that sells cheaper alternatives to her prescription.
And, just like a fancy Hollywood club, “you can’t get in anymore. It’s almost impossible” because of the volume of people, she said.
“If you go there tomorrow at 8 o’clock, or even before, you won’t find a parking space.”
