Why Drugs That Eat Our Hunger Will Not Change Much

They Won't Stop People From Eating Because Most Eat For Entertainment And Not To Satisfy Hunger

- MANU JOSEPH

Two drugs are generating the sort of cultural excitement that only Viagra once did. Like Viagra, their effects are visible, and often not attributed to the medicine. Semaglutide and Tirzepatide, known by their brand names Ozempic and Mounjaro, were designed to treat diabetes. But as often happens with iconic drugs, their fame lies in what they do on the side. They reduce appetite. So, people eat less and lose weight.

Doctors are taking these drugs too, which is a good sign. Not that they are paragons of health, but they know how patients respond to the drugs and so it suggests they consider them safe. Meanwhile, society is bracing for a behavioral revolution. A certain leanness—a non-muscular kind in middle-aged people that I already associate with these drugs—might become another motif of wealth. At the moment, the drugs are for the affluent, but that can change over time.

There is even a view that once these drugs go off patent and generics flood the market, they may hurt the restaurant business.

I doubt that. I think their impact will be modest. People do not eat because they're hungry, especially the rich. Even most of the poor no longer eat out of necessity alone. Nobody eats maida noodles and biryani out of hunger. For most people, eating is a form of entertainment. Even a source of happiness. Many people can bear the period between meals because they know food is coming. Many keep eating through the day because people do a lot of what is fun. Also, food is the most legit drug addiction.