Food and beverage companies are facing “diet”; Weight loss products, a market of about $76 billion, have a bleak future with the increasing popularity of recent drugs designed to achieve the same purpose, such as (Ozimbic) and (Wegovi). Many have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the keto diet and other weight-loss diets and programs, including NutriSystem and WhiteWatchers. The American, Ank Enwar Beck, said she was one of those who spent that money over the years, but she started taking Ozimbek last November. During this short period, she lost about 13.6 kilograms of weight. She added that the level of cholesterol and blood sugar has improved a lot, and she is eating fewer calories without feeling hungry. Such impressions terrified the CEOs and leaders of diet food companies, whose sales reached $76 billion in 2022. Their products include weight-loss programs, low-calorie soda, low-calorie frozen meals, and fitness club memberships. Observers believe that the three drugs intended for weight loss (Wegovi and Ozimbek, which are manufactured by the Danish company Novo Nordisk, and Monjaro, which is manufactured by Eli Lilly) have brought about a significant change in the landscape of the weight loss market. Rather, it overturned notions that had dominated for decades that diet, exercise, and willpower were the only way to lose weight. Some companies, such as Whitewatchers, have embraced the new drugs, believing they are on their way to being the future of the weight loss industry. But other companies have stuck to their diets and programs, claiming that what they have is a natural alternative to drugs, and that weight loss has no quick fix. They warn of the side effects of the new medicines mentioned, such as nausea, diarrhea, and the need to continue taking these medicines for a long time to maintain weight. Some of these companies have been sucking the incomes of Americans for decades, claiming the ability to achieve their dreams of losing weight. Whitewatchers was founded in 1963 and has been promising its customers to fulfill their dream by counting calories in their meals and changing their lifestyles. On the other hand, weight-loss drugs kept showing up, making a big fuss, and then disappearing. Their disappearance is often attributed to health problems. During the 1990s, a diet that was a combination of medication and diet was promoted. But it was withdrawn from the market after reports emerged claiming that some of its users had heart problems. There have been reports that the once popular over-the-counter drug Dexatrim increases the risk of stroke.
But the size of the weight loss market has not decreased, in fact increased. The US Centers for Disease Control and Control announced that about 42% of Americans were obese during the 2017-2020 period. The percentage was around 31% during the period 1999-2000. Patients, doctors and researchers unanimously agree that the most important advantage of Adiya, Ugovi, Ozambique and Monjaro is its ability to cause rapid weight loss. Although they are originally licensed as a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The price of Ozimbek medicine is $892 per month, while the cost of Wigovy is about $1,350 per month. Diet and weight-loss companies face a severe test of choosing between integrating new drugs into their programs, or continuing to offer these programs alone, with the accompanying change in daily lifestyles. Perhaps the most prominent change in the policies of these companies is the decision of “Whitewatchers” to acquire Sequence, a company that provides the patient with a telephone call service to the doctor, who has the authority to prescribe Ozimbek, or Vigovi, or Monjaro to the patient. And since “Whitewatchers” has been calling, since the sixties of the last century, to count calories in every food, and to change lifestyles, which are options that did not work for many who seek to reduce their weight; The number of the company’s customers decreased from 5 million people during 2020, and 4.2 million people in 2021 to 3.5 million people by the end of 2022. Its CEO, Sima Sistani, said that the company concluded that the absorption of new drugs is better for a large number of patients who have a practical relationship with the company. She added that the company intends to develop new mechanisms to help those who lose weight by taking the new drugs to ensure good nutrition after losing weight, especially since the aforementioned drugs cause a significant decrease in appetite. Other companies insist that they will not care about the new drugs, claiming that they cause side complications, in addition to the fact that not enough studies have been conducted to know the results of all of them.
Great health benefits of “ice cream”?
Research conducted by the Division of Nutrition at Harvard University stated that ice cream has many health benefits. And the research, published in The Atlantic magazine, stated that for diabetics, eating a cup of ice cream daily reduces the risk of heart problems. The conclusions reached by Harvard University surprised scientists, who asked about any health benefit that a diabetic could gain from sugar-laden food. Although the last study was conducted in 2018; Harvard University stated that it had reached that same conclusion in a similar study conducted in 2005, based on surveys conducted during the period 1986-1998. The university stated that reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes is closely related to eating dairy products, either low-fat or completely fat-free. The results of the study indicate that those who drink low-fat or completely fat-free milk twice a day have a 22% lower risk of developing diabetes. As for men who ate ice cream two or more times per week, the odds of developing diabetes decreased by the same proportion. YouTube star Anthony Howard Crowe told the magazine “Men’s Health” that he lost 14.5 kilograms of weight, after eating only ice cream and some food additives for 100 days.
