Newly popular GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, have gained celebrity status for their weight-loss effects. However, these drugs were originally developed to treat Type 2 diabetes, a condition that disproportionately affects Black Americans. Data from the CDC indicates that approximately 12 percent of Black adults have diabetes, compared to about 7 percent of white adults. Despite this higher prevalence, a review of 26 studies found that Black patients were around 20 percent less likely than white patients to be prescribed newer diabetes drugs.
This disparity has deep historical origins. In the past, diabetes was often mischaracterized as a "luxury disease" affecting only wealthy white and Jewish populations, with many medical professionals disbelieving that Black people could contract it. Even after the 1985 Heckler Report highlighted significant racial disparities in American healthcare, Black patients' diabetes was frequently attributed to lifestyle choices rather than systemic issues like housing, food, financial, and healthcare inequities.
The trend continues to impact access to modern treatments like GLP-1s, suggesting that closing this gap will require more than simply making prescriptions available. The issue is intertwined with the long history of how race and disease have been inaccurately linked in American medicine.