Ozempic – a diabetes medication that quickly became known for its use as a weight loss drug – might be associated with celebrities, but the real “Ozempictown” is actually in Bowling Green, Ky.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that 4% of the residents in the this relatively small town have prescriptions for GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic. It said that puts it ahead of other major population centers around the state and the country.
“For comparison, prescription rates in Brooklyn, New York, and the Miami area are closer to 1%,” said reporter Madison Muller.
She spent a couple of weeks in the town of approximately 73,000 people. There, Muller said she found “signs of the Ozempic boom everywhere” from a GNC vitamin store selling supplements to deal with side effects of the drug to family-run pharmacies selling their own compounded versions of the medications.
“Some doctors are even putting up their own ads for the shots along the town’s main road,” Muller wrote.
What are GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic?
Dr. Diana Thiara explained in an interview last year with Audacy that these medications work on the pancreas to increase insulin production. Insulin allows the body to use sugar. GLP-1 drugs – which include semaglutide options such as Wegovy and Ozepmpic as well as tirzepatide options such as Mounjaro and Zepbound – can also cause food to stay in the stomach longer and thus make people taking them feel fuller longer.
“You actually feel more mentally full and physically full, and then your body is just able to process blood sugar better because it’s making more insulin with the help of these medications,” Thiara said.
A JAMA study published this June found that roughly 12% of all U.S. adults had tried a GLP-1 receptor agonist at some point – even if the drug wasn’t affordable.
Why are these drugs so popular in this Kentucky town?
This January, Audacy reported on the top states where GLP-1 prescriptions were prescribed the most. Kentucky was at the top of the list, followed by West Virginia, Alaska, Mississippi and Louisiana.
In her article, Muller noted that Bowling Green is known as the place where Chevrolet Corvettes are manufactured and where Fruit-of-the-Loom is based. Located in the southern part of the state, it was once a Confederate capitol of Kentucky.
It’s not clear exactly why Ozempic-like drugs are so popular there, but the state does have a high incidence of diabetes mortality and obesity than many other parts of the nation.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Bowling Green was $45,812 in 2020 and 13.5% of its population did not have healthcare coverage. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Kentucky has the ninth highest diabetes death rate in the country, and GLP-1 drugs were initially approved for diabetic patients. Kentucky also had the 10th highest prevalence of obesity in the U.S., per the CDC.
“Obesity is linked to up to 53% of new cases of type 2 diabetes each year,” according to American Diabetes Association. “Treating the chronic disease of obesity can help prevent, delay, and even result in diabetes remission.”
What does it all mean?
Muller said that Bowling Green could offer a “window into what’s going on in communities across the U.S. – or what’s to come soon.”
While GLP-1 use may be more common there than other towns, that doesn’t mean the medications are always easy to get. One resident, 54-year-old auto worker Pat Stiff, said he’s been having a hard time finding a local pharmacy that can fulfill his Mounjaro prescription.
“It just really sucks,” he told Muller once after checking every pharmacy in a 300-mile radius of Bowling Green. She said that with supply shortages, people who need the drugs have been relying on loosely regulated compound versions.
As for the potential impact of the drugs on restaurants and gyms – Muller said both are bustling in Bowling Green.