News release

From: International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026)

Internet searches on weight-loss drugs have soared 25-fold in past decade

25-fold increase in internet searches for obesity medication sparks concern that the importance of healthy diet and exercise will be overlooked in the GLP-1 era

Public interest in obesity medication has risen 25-fold since the launch of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, new research being presented at the International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026) in Mexico City, Mexico, hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) (15-17 July) shows.

In contrast, interest in lifestyle-based weight-loss strategies, such as diet and exercise programmes, has remained stable, the analysis of Google searches found.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists such as semaglutide mimic the action of a hormone called GLP-1 to reduce appetite and feelings of hunger, slow the release of food from the stomach and increase feelings of fullness after eating. They can help people lose 15 to 20% of their body weight over a year or so.

“The emergence of these drugs has revolutionised obesity treatment, demonstrating substantial benefit for weight loss and other health outcomes, and has increased public interest in using medication to manage weight,” says lead researcher Professor Orna Reges, of Ariel University, Ariel, Israel and a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, USA.

“Lifestyle-based approaches, such as healthy eating and regular physical activity, remain an important component of obesity management, and are recommended alongside these effective pharmacologic therapies. However, there have been concerns that public interest in them has waned since GLP-1 drugs became available.

“Another possibility is that the availability of effective weight loss medications has increased motivation to engage in weight management overall, leading to a growth in interest in diet and exercise programmes.”

To find out more, Prof Reges and colleagues turned to Google data. They used freely available data on the volume of Google searches for popular terms such as “semaglutide”, “liraglutide”, “tirzepatide”, “diet”, “healthy eating”, “exercise”, “physical activity” and “gym” to create indexes, or scores, reflecting relative changes in public interest in obesity medication and traditional lifestyle-based approaches between 2016 and 2025.

Professor Reges explains: “We wanted to capture trends over an entire decade to better understand how public interest in weight management has evolved over time.”

The study found that interest in lifestyle-based approaches was consistently high during that time period.

However, interest in obesity medication rose dramatically. It increased approximately 25-fold and, by 2025, it was approaching the level of interest in lifestyle-based approaches.

Professor Reges says: “We can’t tell from our analysis what is behind the increase. It may simply be that people who were already interested in weight loss are now searching for information more frequently than before.

“However, we suspect that the the availability of highly effective GLP-1 based medications has encouraged broader public engagement with weight management. In other words, it has inspired a new group of people to become interested in losing weight.

“If this trend persists, the public may become more interested in obesity medication than in more traditional weight-loss approaches.

“However, healthy lifestyle habits remain important regardless of whether someone uses weight-loss medication.

“Regular physical activity and a balanced diet provide a wide range of health benefits, including improving cardiovascular and metabolic health, maintaining muscle mass and enhancing overall wellbeing. They are at the heart of a healthy lifestyle and must not be forgotten in the GLP-1 era.”

Co-author, Dr Liora Shmueli, of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, and Visiting Scholar, Department of Health Policy, Stanford University, Stanford USA, adds: "As interest in GLP-1 medications continues to grow, health policies should support the integration of these medications with evidence-based lifestyle interventions to promote long-term weight management."