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The Ezra Klein Show

GLP-1s and the ‘Wild West’ of Wellness

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

News, Government, Society & Culture

4.314.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Here’s a shocking number: One out of eight American adults is taking a GLP-1, like Ozempic or Zepbound, according to a KFF poll. GLP-1s are the biggest pharmaceutical story since antidepressants. But there’s still so much we don’t know. “We’re only at the beginning of what’s been called this Ozempic era,” the journalist Julia Belluz told me. “I think we’re really just at the beginning of discovering the benefits and the harms of these drugs.” These discoveries begin in the research but are also expanding into how we think about our punishing beauty standards and the blurry lines between illness and wellness. Belluz is a contributing Opinion writer and the author, with Kevin Hall, of “Food Intelligence.” She’s one of the best health and science reporters I know and has been reporting on GLP-1s for years. In this conversation, Belluz takes me through what we know — and don’t know — about GLP-1s, their unexpected uses, how they are clashing with a culture obsessed with thinness and looksmaxxing, and whether everyone should be on them. Mentioned: “The obesity pay gap is worse than previously thought” by The Economist “The Great Ozempic Experiment” by Julia Belluz Book Recommendations: Behave by Robert M. Sapolsky The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Julie Beer. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Johnny Simon. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Transcript editing by Sarah Murphy and Marlaine Glicksman.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The

0:07.0

The Here's a number that actually shocked me when I learned it.

0:35.2

This from a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll. One out of eight Americans

0:40.0

is taking a GLP1. One out of eight. Maybe I shouldn't have been so shocked because the number

0:47.0

is higher in my social circles. I have tried these. For reasons, I'll explain. But they're a strange medication, right?

0:55.9

They don't make you lose weight.

0:57.5

They make you not want to eat food.

1:00.3

But then they do all these other things.

1:02.6

They seem to protect people's heart health, independent of losing weight.

1:08.2

They're protective of kidneys, of livers. There is ongoing research about

1:13.9

dementia, Alzheimer's. They have all these strange effects on addiction and desire. But should

1:19.7

everyone be on these? Like, what does it mean for society to have access to drugs that regulate

1:25.8

desire in this way? What do they mean for the sick?

1:30.3

What do they mean for the well? I want to do an episode on this for a while, but haven't known

1:35.3

quite how to approach it. And then Julia Ballouz, who's a contributing writer at New York Times

1:39.8

opinion, and co-author of the book Food Intelligence, and also was a health and science reporter with me back at Vox.

1:46.5

She is one of the best health and science reporters I have ever known, incredibly deep on the science,

1:51.9

but really compassionate and detailed and relentless about talking to actual people about their

1:58.0

experiences inside the health system. She's reported extensively on nutrition and medicine, but she's been doing a lot of work on

2:04.5

GLP ones, including survey work, talking to doctors, scientists, patients, and I wanted to have

2:10.3

her on to hear what she's been learning. As always, my email as for Client Show at n.yatimes.com.

2:25.6

Julie Blues, welcome to the show.

...

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