Paraguay and Argentina: what the data say about demand for metabolic peptides

Paraguay and Argentina share more than a border: official surveys in both countries show that excess weight affects two in every three adults. That context helps explain why interest in metabolic peptides is growing across the region, and why that interest needs to come with care for the cold chain, the batch and verification.

Paraguay: what the national survey measured

Paraguay’s Second National Survey of Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (Segunda Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo), run by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, measured the weight and height of adults aged 18 to 69 using the World Health Organization’s STEPS method. With data collected in 2023 and published in 2025, it found 69.7% of adults with excess weight (a body mass index of 25 or more) and 32.4% with obesity (an index of 30 or more). In the same survey, 10.6% of people reported having diabetes.

Argentina: the fourth national survey

In Argentina, the 4th National Risk Factor Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo), from 2018, carried out by INDEC and the Government Secretariat of Health in towns of 5,000 inhabitants or more, took objective measurements of adults aged 18 and over. According to those measurements, 66.1% had excess weight and 32.4% had obesity. When people simply answered the question, without a scale, self-reported obesity was 25.3%: the gap shows why it is worth checking how each number was obtained.

The fact that 32.4% appears in both countries is just a coincidence: the surveys come from different years and cover different age ranges. They give an order of magnitude, not a point-by-point comparison.

Interest in the GLP‑1 class across the region

With figures like these, it is no surprise that the class of medicines known as GLP‑1 takes up more and more space in the conversation about metabolic health in the Southern Cone. Consumer surveys by private consultancies record that interest in several Latin American countries, but there is still no official, public statistic on the use of these peptides in either Paraguay or Argentina. That is why we give no usage figure here: we prefer measured data to unsupported estimates.

Clinical trial results are published as averages for groups of participants: they describe what happened to the group as a whole and cannot predict what will happen to any one person. Settings and frequency of use are decided by a healthcare professional, not by a market article.

Paraguay also manufactures

The supply side matters too. Paraguay has an established pharmaceutical industry which, according to the sector itself, supplies most of its domestic market and exports across the region. We cover it in detail in what marks out a mature pharmaceutical industry.

Brazil, as a reference point

Across the border, Brazil offers a point of comparison: according to the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s Vigitel 2024 survey, 25.7% of adults in Brazil’s state capitals reported having obesity. That is a self-reported figure, comparable with the 25.3% self-reported in Argentina rather than with numbers measured on a scale.

When demand grows, the chain gets longer

More demand means more volume, more warehouses, more transport and, often, more intermediaries between the people who make a product and the people who use it. Every link is a chance for something to change along the way, and injectable peptides are sensitive to temperature: the VLS retatrutide 40 mg pen, for instance, is kept at 2 to 8 °C, the range of an ordinary refrigerator. A break in the cold chain leaves no visible mark on the pack, which is why it should be treated as part of the product and not as a logistics detail.

Cold chain, batch and verification: what to check

• Cold chain: whether the stated storage of 2 to 8 °C is respected from the factory to delivery, and what care the supplier describes for transport and for keeping it at home.
• Batch: the batch number and expiry date on the pack, together with the certificate of analysis for that batch, like the ones we gather in lab reports.
• Verification: a code that lets you check the unit, like the one on the batch verification page.

To see how these points look in practice, visit the factory page, with the production stages, and read how to store the pen right to the end.

Sources

• Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (Paraguay). Segunda Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo de Enfermedades No Transmisibles, 2025. PDF
• INDEC and Government Secretariat of Health (Argentina). 4.ª Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo: resultados definitivos, 2019. PDF
• Ministry of Health (Brazil). Vigitel Brasil 2006-2024. PDF

For information only; it does not replace the advice of a healthcare professional.