RFK Jr. says Ozempic and weight-loss meds can’t replace a healthy lifestyle

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has shed more light on his views on popular weight-loss treatments.

Kennedy told CNBC’s (CMCSA-0.66%) Jim Cramer on Thursday that while GLP-1 medications have their place in treatment, lifestyle changes should remain the primary approach for weight loss. This marks a more nuanced stance from the nominee, who has previously been critical of pharmaceutical solutions to obesity.

“The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure you that you don’t get obese. Those GLP drugs have a place,” Kennedy said.

GLP-1 medications are a class of drugs that mimic a hormone that regulates appetite and blood sugar and have become highly sought after as treatments for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Recent studies and clinical trials have been finding that these drugs also have health benefits beyond weight loss.

Popular brands on the market also include Wegovy (NVO-1.86%) and Eli Lilly’s (LLY+1.11%) Zepbound. Soaring demand for these treatments has turned Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly into the largest pharma companies in the world.

Kennedy has previously come out more strongly against the growing use of these drugs. Instead, he has repeatedly promoted healthy eating as a solution to the country’s obesity epidemic.

“If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” Kennedy told Fox News in October before the election.

His remarks contrast those of another Trump supporter — Elon Musk.

Musk, the richest person alive and the co-head of President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), doubled down on his support for expanding access to affordable GLP-1 weight-loss medications like Ozempic.

“Nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public. Nothing else is even close,” Musk wrote Wednesday morning in a post on X, the social media site he owns.