This year, the number of US adults on a GLP-1 medication for weight loss reached an astonishing 11% — meaning more than one in 10 adults are on one form or another of the jab.
This explosion in use of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro has happened over a very short time — about five years — despite the drugs being on the market for over two decades.
People are on it because it works. Patients lose, on average, 7 to 11% of their starting weight. There’s also a number of unexpected benefits of being on the drug, from lowering risk of depression and potentially preventing dementia, to lowering risk of cancer, heart attack, and even substance abuse.
Still, people are mainly on it to shed pounds — including one demographic in particular, whose use of the drug has skyrocketed from .8% in 2018 to 1.9% in 2025 — a 24-fold increase.
They are new mothers, specifically women who get on the drug within six months of giving birth, new research found.
This research sheds new light on the larger demographic differences in GLP-1 use. Women use GLP-1s much more than men overall, making up as much as 70% of patients on the drug.
New moms on the jab
Researchers in this new study looked at 1 million births and tracked which moms started on GLP-1s within half a year.
They found that within the group, new moms with type 2 diabetes got the most prescriptions (increasing from 2.3% to 16.9%, or about one in six patients) between 2018 and 2025.
But those who had gestational diabetes — temporary diabetes that develops during pregnancy — also increased GLP-1 scripts dramatically, from .4 in 2021 to 2.7% in 2025.
Gestational diabetes happens in 5% to 9% of pregnancies in the US and gives a strong indication mom will develop diabetes later in life. As many as 50-70% of women who have gestational diabetes develop type 2 diabetes later.
The fastest increase, however, was among women diagnosed as obese or overweight before pregnancy. Their GLP-1 scripts jumped from from 0.4% in 2021 to 3.9% in 2025 — nearly a tenfold increase.
This touches on one of the biggest reasons overall GLP-1 use has exploded in recent years. GLP-1s weren’t always approved for weight loss — it was mainly used to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar. But in 2021 that changed, opening the door to people who struggled with weight and obesity, kickstarting the frenzy we’re seeing now.
Losing pregnancy weight
Authors note that like gestational diabetes potentially causing problems down the road, weight gained during pregnancy can be hard to lose long after birth.
Twelve months after birth, up to 75% of women weigh more than they did before pregnancy. This extra weight contributes to issues with blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
One study even suggests that keeping the weight on one year after birth is an indicator they’ll weigh more 15 years down the line.
GLP-1s are generally avoided during pregnancy though, which helps explain why use skyrockets within six months after birth. Authors of the new study note it can be an important medication to manage long term risks associated with weight retention and diabetes.
However, given that moms are starting so soon after giving birth, authors are calling for more research on how GLP-1s might affect breastfeeding. One study showed that GLP-1s were not detectable in breast milk, but experts still advise caution and many do not advise using the drug while breastfeeding.
