Essay asks what widespread Ozempic and GLP-1 use means for Jewish food traditions
An essay on GLP-1 use and Jewish food culture describes how appetite-suppressing drugs can change holiday meals and community life, and how uneven insurance coverage shapes who stays on them.
The September 2026 issue of Hadassah Magazine carries an essay by Hilary Danailova on what widespread use of GLP-1 drugs means for a culture organized around holiday meals, hospitality and communal gatherings [1]. The piece is reported commentary built on interviews with patients and physicians, not new survey data [1].
The essay opens with Beth, a 46-year-old New York City mother who asked that her last name be omitted [1]. Six months after starting weekly GLP-1 injections, she had gone from a dress size 12 to a 6 and made it through Yom Kippur services without the constant thoughts about eating she called "food noise" [1]. She said, "Everyone I know is on Ozempic," the brand name for semaglutide, which was developed for type 2 diabetes and was among the first GLP-1 drugs prescribed off label for weight loss [1].
National figures cited in the essay put that observation in context. A July Gallup poll found use of the drugs quadrupled between 2024 and 2026, rising from 3 percent of Americans to more than 11 percent [1]. A 2025 Gallup poll found that use among women outpaces use among men, that studies show the drugs are more effective for women, and that most people taking them are between 50 and 64 [1]. The July report said the U.S. adult obesity rate peaked at a record 39.9 percent in 2022 and has fallen to 36.4 percent so far in 2026 [1]. GLP-1s were first marketed in 2005 for type 2 diabetes; Ozempic arrived in 2017, and the drugs won FDA approval to treat obesity in 2021 [1].
Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, told the magazine that suppressing appetite can complicate taking part in a community with many rituals around food and fasting. "Particularly for Jews," she said, "removing your ability to participate (fully) in those holidays and events can be very problematic" [1]. Dushay, who conducted the first study of GLP-1 weight loss in the late 2000s, said it still surprises her that there are no good predictors of who will respond or how much [1]. Scientists estimate about 10 percent of patients do not respond at all [1].
Dr. Daniel Drucker, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto who has studied GLP hormones for more than 40 years, said in an interview that large trials of successive versions of the drugs show patients have "fewer heart attacks, fewer strokes, lower rates of death," adding that "with rare exceptions, nothing bad happens to offset them" [1]. He also said the class should not be described as helping every condition, naming Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease among the disappointments so far [1]. Research cited in the essay points to benefits in heart, kidney and liver disease, breast cancer and depression, with some effects appearing independent of weight loss [1].
Common side effects are digestive, mainly nausea plus diarrhea, constipation and vomiting, and often ease over time [1]. Physicians recommend keeping protein intake high and doing strength and resistance training, because muscle mass can decline along with weight [1]. Most insurance plans cover GLP-1s for type 2 diabetes, but many will not pay for weight loss, though some make exceptions for conditions such as sleep apnea or hypertension; list prices for some of the drugs exceed $1,000 a month [1]. Compounded versions prepared by licensed pharmacies are not FDA approved, and recent FDA moves restricting certain active ingredients could affect their production [1].
Why it matters for patients
A drug that quiets appetite also changes the table. For people whose family and religious life centers on cooking, hosting and eating together, a smaller appetite can shift how they take part, and the essay treats that as a social consequence rather than only a private medical one [1]. Cost and coverage shape who can stay on treatment: the drugs are designed for long-term use, and people who stop may regain the weight they lost [1]. About 10 percent of patients see no response, and clinicians say they cannot yet predict in advance who those patients will be [1].
What happens next
The essay points to changes that could widen use. Medicare is expanding coverage for the drugs, and new forms, including a daily pill as an alternative to injections, are entering the market [1]. Eli Lilly has announced positive trial results for a newer class of weight-loss medication that produced about 30 percent body weight loss over 80 weeks, roughly double currently marketed GLP-1s like Wegovy and comparable to bariatric surgery [1]. The essay did not give dates for those changes. In Israel, pediatric use of GLP-1s was approved earlier this year, and research there contributed to the FDA's decision to withdraw an earlier warning about suicidal ideation in children taking the drugs [1].
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Sources
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