GLP-1s can’t solve New Jersey’s obesity crisis. What can?
Author: Tro Kalayjian
Published: February 6, 2026
A new program just helped 50 participants shed more than 40 pounds each, get off nearly 100 prescriptions, and save roughly $83,000 in medication and care costs over one year. The program — focused on improving participants’ metabolic health — offered a clear glimpse of what’s possible when we address America’s health crisis at its root.
Today, one in three American adults suffers from metabolic syndrome — a condition marked by obesity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, low cholesterol and too many triglycerides in the blood. It underlies many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease — and it sharply increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
In New Jersey, the annual cost of chronic diseases like these is nearly $100 billion; chronic diseases could cost the state over $1 trillion by 2030. Altogether, metabolic syndrome contributes to hundreds of thousands of American deaths each year and costs us hundreds of billions of dollars in medical costs and lost productivity.
Reversing this epidemic will require more than another breakthrough drug or new procedure. It demands an entirely different approach to disease management — one which aims to stave off and reverse illness, instead of just treating the symptoms.
