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Most Americans these days are known to pop pills for conditions like blood pressure or inject insulin for diabetes. According to a recent study, almost 60% Americans are taking prescription drugs at least once during the past month. The team of researchers said in a paper published on Tuesday that most of these drugs were taken to treat conditions related to obesity. The co-author of the study, Elizabeth Kantor, who is also an epidemiologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said that the rise in prescription drugs by Americans is not a sign of a disturbing trend. In fact, the data reveals that the medical care is now becoming more easily approachable to more people. Kantor said, "We want to be treating people who need to be treated. Our use of certain drugs might increase as certain conditions, or access to care improves, but at the same time, it's also important to be cautious about it", reports Huffington Post.

According to the research by Kantor's team, there are now more people who are using antidepressants and proton pump inhibitors to treat the problem of acid reflux. This condition is mainly related to poor diet and obesity. However, one interesting trend found in the studies was that fewer women are not taking hormones to fix the menopause symptoms. This is because of the increased risk of breast cancer by these hormone pills and also the heightened awareness of this disease as well as others, says NBC News.

Overall, the drug use has increased significantly that raises a potent question about the general health and wellbeing of an average American adult. It is important to note if the Americans are getting sicker or the doctors are prescribing unnecessary drugs to their patients. Since there has been a rise in population of 65 years and above, this is the reason one can see an increased consumption of prescription drugs. More than 40% adults were ages 65 and older who reported using at least five or more medicines, as per News Week.