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Packets of the diabetes medication Ozempic are on a pharmacy counter in Los Angeles.

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

Packets of the diabetes medication Ozempic are on a pharmacy counter in Los Angeles.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

They have been called “Hollywood’s worst kept secret.”

Weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are commonly used to treat diabetes, are currently all the rage, with more and more celebrities speaking openly about taking these weight loss drugs.

So if you look at where they are most popular, you might imagine a place like Los Angeles or New York.

The real weight-loss capital of the United States may surprise you. Why does the small town of Bowling Green, Kentucky have the highest prescription rate of these drugs?

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High obesity rates and ways to treat them.

Kentucky has one of the highest obesity rates in the country.

In Bowling Green and the surrounding area, at least four percent of residents received a prescription for one of these weight loss drugs in the last year.

Madison Muller is a health reporter for Bloomberg News. She was in Bowling Green to learn more about why weight-loss drugs are so widely used.

“The diabetes rate is really high,” says Müller.

“So it's actually a good thing. It seems like at least the people who really need these drugs are getting them when the prices are so high in this area.”

Muller explains that one employer, Med Center Health, a health care company, covered the cost of its employees' medications.

“These various factors, coupled with the fact that Bowling Green is a middle-class community where people are able to afford $1,000 or more a month worth of medication out of their own pocket if necessary, have created the perfect conditions for weight-loss drugs to succeed in this area.”

The general effect.

According to Müller, it is still too early to assess the overall impact of these drugs on the community.

Patients in Bowling Green and across the U.S. also faced supply chain issues and drug shortages as they became increasingly popular.

However, she says what she heard was positive.

“We know from conversations with patients and doctors that these patients have had measurable reductions in blood sugar levels and knee pain. Headaches have improved. And the doctors we spoke to in Bowling Green said without a doubt that their patients' health is improving thanks to these drugs.”

A potentially unexpected impact was also a decline in bariatric surgery.

“One of the people we spoke to in Bowling Green, Brittney Felton, works at a rehab clinic that treats and supports people after surgery. She said that one of the most common reasons patients used to come to that rehab clinic was for bariatric surgery to help with the recovery process. And she said that's no longer the case. She no longer sees patients coming to the rehab center because of bariatric surgery.”

This episode was produced by Kathryn Fink. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.