Reversing Obesity & Diabetes w/ Virta's Sami Inkinen

Recorded on 04/14/25

Today, GLP-1s are talked about in regard to obesity and weight loss, but GLP-1s aren’t new. They have been used for nearly 20 years for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Still, the costs associated with treating diabetes and obesity today are staggering. It's estimated that the total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. in 2022 was $412.9 billion, including $306.6 billion in direct medical costs and $106.3 billion in indirect costs. Likewise, the figures for obesity are discouraging. The CDC estimates that 1 in 5 children and 2 in 5 adults have obesity, and the NIH estimated in 2016 that the aggregate medical cost due to adult obesity in the United States was $260.6 billion, which has only increased since. It is clear that the current treatment paradigm for obesity and diabetes isn't working.

In this episode, we talk about the obesity crisis, and in particular, the rise of GLP-1s to address not only diabetes and obesity, but also an increasing number of other co-morbidities. We'll also talk about the broader issue of health and how we should treat chronic conditions, which today is largely focused on pharmaceutical treatment. Increasingly, we've seen movement towards other approaches that focus on areas like behavioral change and nutrition that can, in fact, have just as much, if not more, lasting impact on overall health.

To help us discuss these topics and more, we're joined by Sami Inkinen, Co-Founder and CEO of Virta Health, whose mission is to reverse diabetes and obesity in one billion people. Virta today works with over 500 large employers, health plans, and government organizations across the country, and already has helped over 100,000 members reverse their diabetes and obesity. He holds a MS in engineering physics from the Helsinki University of Technology and an MBA from Stanford University. Sami, thanks for joining me today.

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