Gary Taubes's GLP-1 ('diet or drugs') commentary

Gary Taubes is publicly working through the GLP-1 question in what he calls the “diet or drugs” frame — the title of a Substack essay in which he lays out his thinking on the Ozempic-class drugs.

Taubes is not dismissive of the drugs. Per the LowCarbUSA interview, he recognizes that medicine tends to choose drugs because they are easier to prescribe. But he asks what happens when patients stop taking them, and when cost, side effects, and long-term uncertainty enter the picture. On the 40+ Fitness podcast (episode 628), he said he is “cautious about the long-term unknowns of today’s GLP-1 drugs.”

His commentary sits at the center of an ongoing, unresolved debate over whether obesity and type 2 diabetes should be managed pharmacologically or through dietary change.

Timeline

• 2026 (LowCarbUSA interview) — Taubes discusses GLP-1 drugs, noting that medicine defaults to drugs because they are easier to prescribe, while raising questions about cessation, cost, side effects, and long-term uncertainty.
• 2026 (Substack) — Publishes the essay “Diet or Drugs?” on the GLP-1 question.
• 2026 (40+ Fitness podcast, episode 628) — Tells the podcast he is “cautious about the long-term unknowns of today’s GLP-1 drugs.”