Robert F. Kennedy Junior wants to scale back the nation’s reliance on Ozempic, claiming Americans hooked on the drug are ‘stupid’ and ‘addicted.’
Estimates suggest more than 9million prescriptions for Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs are written every year in the US — one of the world’s fattest nations.
But Mr Kennedy says the money used on the drugs — up to $1,600 per month — would be better suited for supplying balanced and healthy meals to families.
The Health and Human Services secretary nominee told the late night show Gutfeld! last month: ‘We are spending $1.6k a month on this drug. There is a bill right now before Congress that will make it available to everybody who is overweight… that alone will cost $3trillion a year.
‘If we spend about one fifth of that giving good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight.’
Mr Kennedy, a famed vaccine skeptic who claims WiFi causes cancer and AIDS is not caused by HIV, also said Americans were being taken advantage of by drug companies and claimed Ozempic is not recommended in the country where it was invented, which isn’t entirely accurate.
Authorities in Denmark, home to its manufacturer Novo Nordisk, have approved Ozempic for type 2 diabetics and Wegovy for weight loss patients — with nearly 100,000 prescriptions now written every year.
But they are urging doctors to prescribe cheaper alternatives, saying people need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the shots before they gain substantial health benefits.
Speaking on the show, RFK added: ‘They make this drug in Denmark and in Denmark they do not recommend it for diabetes or obesity. They recommend dietary or behavioral changes.
‘They [Novo Nordisk, its manufacturer] are counting on selling it to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.’
About 74 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to the CDC — the highest level ever recorded.
Studies suggest people can lose about one to two pounds a week on Ozempic or Wegovy, but a lot of this weight loss comes from loss of muscle mass rather than fat.
Doctors prescribing the drug already ask patients to eat a healthy and high-protein diet and adopt an active lifestyle.
This is to help them maintain muscle mass and to help ensure someone does not gain back the weight when they come off the drug.
Mr Kennedy made the comments after he was asked about a separate study that suggested Ozempic reduced the risk of alcohol abuse by 50 percent.
This may indicate a reduced risk of mental health problems, despite some reports previously suggesting the drug could cause depression and suicidal thoughts.
‘I need to look at the methodology of that study because I don’t believe it,’ he said.
‘The EU right now is investigating Ozempic for suicidal ideation, but it may be that the drug suppresses the reward pathways, so it makes you wanna do everything less, and that may be part of the answer.’
He was speaking in October, after the EU’s drug regulator — the European Medicines Agency — said there was ‘no link’ between the drug and suicidal thoughts.
The FDA also concluded in August there was no increased risk of suicide among patients on Ozempic compared to those not taking the drug.
Doctors still say, however, that it is possible patients on the drug could be left struggling with feelings of sadness if they had used food as a ‘coping mechanism’.
Ozempic does bring a number of health benefits from weight loss, however, including a reduced risk of a heart attack and feeling more confident about someone’s appearance.
A landmark trial of 17,000 overweight or obese patients, researchers found Wegovy slashed the risk of a heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease by 20 percent compared to those who did not take the drug.
Doctors responding to RFK’s comments accused him of spreading misinformation.
Dr Michael Osterholm, a top infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota, told CNN: ‘He acts like he knows what he’s talking about when he doesn’t.
‘And he says things with a definition that makes people convinced he has the data to support his statements.
‘Trying to follow him and understand what he’s talking about is often like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.’
The ‘Make America Healthy Again’ campaigner has promised to boost the nation’s health through a crackdown on processed foods and additives — a move cautiously welcomed by many public health campaigners.
He has vowed to start trying to remove processed foods from school cafeterias on his first day in office, and ban dyes linked to hyperactivity used in foods such as Froot Loops and Skittles.
