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The obesity rate in the U.S. is continuing its downward trend. The news comes three years after obesity rates hit a record high. In 2022, almost four out of 10 (39.9%) of Americans met the threshold for the classification, however, the number first began to shrink in 2023. Now, the rate of obesity is now down to 37%, according to new data from Gallup. The new findings are based on data from three nationally representative surveys of 16,946 U.S. adults. And while the numbers don’t seem massively significant, the report found that those three percentage points add up to around 7.6 million Americans who no longer meet the criteria for being obese. According to the newly released data, the numbers coincide with a growing number of Americans who have begun relying on GLP-1 medications, like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound, for weight loss. “The percentage of adults who report taking this class of medicine specifically for weight loss has increased to 12.4%, compared with 5.8% in February 2024 when Gallup first measured it,” the report explains. The report also notes that far more women are taking the drugs than men (15.2% and 9.7%, respectively), which helps explain why women’s obesity rates have dropped off more abruptly. Likewise, the largest reduction came from 40 to 49-year-olds and 50 to 64-year-olds, which, uncoincidently, are also the groups who most use GLP-1s for weight loss. The news comes as reliance on GLP-1s is continuing to surge. On Thursday, Eli Lilly, the maker of weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro, topped estimates for the third quarter, as demand for weight loss drugs continues to escalate. Zepbound posted $3.59 billion in revenueup a hefty 184% from the year-earlier period. The impressive numbers come shortly after an experimental pill from Eli Lilly outperformed Novo Nordisks oral semaglutide. The pill, orforglipron, helped patients lose more weight and control their blood sugar better than Novo Nordisks Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy. “Lilly delivered another strong quarter, with 54% revenue growth year-over-year driven by continued demand for our incretin portfolio,” David A. Ricks, Lilly chair and CEO, said in an October 30 press release. “We advanced orforglipron through four additional Phase 3 trials, enabling global obesity submissions by year-end, and we achieved U.S. FDA approval of Inluriyo (imlunestrant)marking key progress across our pipeline.” And, as the market for weight loss drugs grows, drug companies are battling it out for a competitive edge. On Thursday, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, made an aggressive bid on U.S. obesity biotech firm Metsera in an effort to dominate the weight loss drug market. Novo Nordisk bid $8.5 billion, topping Pfizer’s $7.3 billion bid. Interestingly, while obesity rates have taken a major dive, diabetes diagnoses have actually gone upreaching a record high of 13.8%, per the recent data. “As diabetes is a lifetime disease, short-term reductions in the obesity rate would not be expected to curtail the percentage of Americans who have been diagnosed with it,” the research explains.
Category:
E-Commerce
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping as “amazing” and “12” on a 10-point scale, but the agreement the two leaders reached appears to be no more than a fragile truce in a trade war with root causes still unresolved. The framework announced on Thursdaythat includes China resuming soybean purchases, suspending its rare earths export curbs for a year, and the U.S. lowering tariffs on China by 10%broadly rewinds ties to the status that existed before Trump’s “Liberation Day” offensive triggered tit-for-tat escalation. But the deal exposes the fundamental mismatch between what Washington wants and what Beijing is willing to offer. Absent from the talks were the big issues cited by Trump as he launched his tariffs in AprilChina’s industrial policies, manufacturing over-capacity, and its export-led growth model. “So what are we talking about? We are talking about de-escalation of the measures that both sides have taken since the start of the Trump administration in this kind of escalating trade war,” said Emily Kilcrease, director at the Center for a New American Security. The outcome underscores the robustness of Xi’s new approach to dealing with the U.S., which relies on a broad toolbox of measures like export controls, swiftly deployed in response to each move by the Trump administration. An official briefed on the deliberations said the Chinese had a realistic set of expectations for this encounterand those did not include a fundamental reset of two-way ties. They were nonetheless happy with Trump’s tone coming in and his framing of the meeting as a “G2”, said the official, who declined to be named or further identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. China sees this as a stepping stone to a bigger meeting where they can stabilize the relationship, the official added. ‘World-class leaders’ Given the long-simmering tensions, the very fact that both leaders had a warm meetingand agreed to two follow-up visits next yearoffers rattled multinational corporations caught in the middle a much needed reprieve, say experts. Xi opened the talks, which took place ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, by saying that “China’s development and rejuvenation are not incompatible with President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again’.” He added that he was willing to work with Trump to “lay a solid foundation for China-U.S. relations and create a favourable environment for the development of both nations.” Trump emerged from the encounter glowing, chit-chatting and leaning into Xi as both left the venue, later calling him the great leader of a great country, and saying that this is how two global superpowers should deal with one another. “When we have this limited time-frame, the deal and the deal-making structure both function as an engagement mechanism between the two countries, so they can address the issues properly and adjust their mutual interests down the road to make sure people keep talking to each other,” said Bo Zhengyuan, Shanghai-based partner at research consultancy Plenum. Trump said that tariffs on Chinese imports would be cut to 47% from around 57% by halving the rate of levies related to trade in fentanyl precursor chemicals to 10% from 20%. Xi will work “very hard to stop the flow” of the chemicals used for the production of the deadly opioid that is the leading cause of American overdose deaths, Trump said, acknowledging that the issue was complex. The tariff was reduced “because I believe they are really taking strong action,” he added. Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasised that Trump and Xi were world-class leaders in a Monday call with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio. Their long-term engagement and mutual respect have become the most valuable strategic asset in U.S.-China relations, he told his American counterpart, in unusually effusive language for a Chinese diplomat. ‘Difficult situation’ The deal buys both sides some breathing room: Trump gets a win before his planned visit to Beijing in April, Xi gets relief from elevated U.S. tariffs that have put pressure on Chinese manufacturers. But even this tactical detente is incomplete. China’s latest rare earths licensing curbs are delayed, not dismantled, but earlier restrictions on the critical minerals that have upended global trade remain, leaving U.S. factories facing ongoing uncertainty in sourcing critical materials. “I think that what we’ve seen this year has been a more or less total vindication of China’s strategy of never striking first but always striking back,” Joe Mazur, geopolitics analyst at Trivium China, a consultancy. “It’s very clear that rare earths is the primary piece of leverage, the ace in the hole that China is able to wield over the U.S.it doesn’t look like the U.S. has any comparable leverage or any way of breaking the stranglehold for the time being.” The agreement also highlights how dramatically the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies has deteriorated since Trump’s first term, when negotiators produced a comprehensive 96-page document covering intellectual property, banking, and agriculture. This time around, the talks were far less intensive and both sides only offered relatively brief readouts that mostly focused on holding back threats made in the run-up to the talks. Da Wei, the director of Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, warned that repeated escalations could exhaust Xi and Trump’s personal rapport. “If the escalation of tensions happens many times, probably the patience and trust between the two leaders at a personal level will run out,” he said. “Then we will have a very difficult situation.” Trevor Hunnicutt, Laurie Chen, and Mei Mei Chu, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Starbucks released its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, October 30, finally providing an official figure for its recent wave of store closings. The Seattle-based coffee chain shuttered a total of 627 locations worldwide over the three months, ending up with a net closure of 107 stores. More than 90% of impacted locations were in North America, Starbucks said. In the United States, 520 stores were shuttered as part of the company’s turnaround efforts, Starbucks disclosed in an earnings release. Starbucks now runs 40,990 stores globally and 16,864 in the United States. Estimates of store closures varied widely In September, Starbucks announced the shuttering of stores in North America, but it didnt identify specific locations or an exact figure. Working with limited information, news outlets made a number of different estimates at the time, ranging from around 100 closures to over 400. The number disclosed by Starbucks this week is above even many of the higher-end estimates. Moderators of the subreddit r/Starbucks, meanwhile, had created a crowdsourced Google Doc for confirmed closures. When reached by Fast Company for comment on store closure locations, a Starbucks representative said the company does not have that to share. The representative pointed to a September blog post from CEO Brian Niccols and said, The best place for up-to-date hours of operation for our coffeehouses in the Starbucks app. All part of the plan The significant number of store closures came as part of the companys Back to Starbucks restructuring plan, which Niccols has been championing as key to growing the coffee chain’s foot traffic. In Julys third-quarter earnings report, Starbucks said that the plan focuses on exceptional service, simplified routines, and deeper customer connections. For Starbucks, that means expanding the assistant manager role across U.S. stores, hiring 90% of retail workers internally, and a lot more seating. Yes, Starbucks wants to move away from machines and mobile orders to create a warm, inviting in-store experience. According to Niccol, its working. Were a year into our Back to Starbucks strategy, and its clear that our turnaround is taking hold, he said in a statement. Our return to global comp growth and the momentum were building give me confidence were on the right path to deliver the very best of Starbucks for our customers, partners and shareholders. U.S. stores fell 2% on comparable sales year-over-year (YOY) in quarter three, while this quarter saw comparable sales remain the same YOY. Shares of Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) were up around 1.17% in early trading on Thursday. The stock is down roughly 7.62% year to date.
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E-Commerce
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