The jabs reducing waistlines are upending supermarkets
AI may dominate the headlines as the future of healthcare innovation, but another breakthrough is just as radically reshaping lives, industries and culture: the rise of GLP-1 agonist drugs. You will have heard of them by their brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro but their impact goes far beyond what we often hear about weight loss.
Jabs with Surprising Benefits
GLP-1 drugs are deceptively simple. They mimic a natural hormone and have four main effects:
- Stimulating insulin production (insulin reduces blood sugar)
- Suppressing glucagon production (glucagon raises blood sugar)
- Slowing digestion
- Reducing appetite
Recently, these drugs have exploded into public consciousness due to their remarkable power to drive weight loss. This makes them seem new, but these medications have been in development for decades. For example, the first GLP-1 treatment for diabetes was approved in 2005.
Originally intended for diabetes, GLP-1 agonists quickly proved effective for weight management and treating obesity. Weight loss, in turn, lowers cardiovascular risk, improves blood pressure, and reduces cholesterol. But the potential doesn’t stop there emerging research suggests GLP-1s could help treat substance use and psychotic disorders, seizures, neurocognitive issues like Alzheimer’s and dementia, clotting disorders, infectious diseases, and respiratory conditions.
One reason for optimism is these medications not only treat diabetes and obesity but could change how multiple conditions are treated. It’s likely that future GLP-1 drugs will be developed to target dementia, addiction, or seizures, perhaps with appetite suppression and weight loss as a minor part of their effect.
Side Effects and Unintended Consequences
Of course, these medications aren’t magical they have downsides. Most side effects are minor and include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, headaches, and fatigue. But they can be uncomfortable enough that patients stop the treatment. Rarer and minor side effects include immune reactions which reduce the GLP-1 effectiveness and cause associated discomfort around the injection site. Then there’s the rare and serious side effects of pancreatitis and gallstones.
There are side effects and then there are unintended consequences too. A suppressed appetite can lead to dehydration (which affects the kidneys), malnutrition, muscle loss, and frailty. In some cases, people may get “healthier” in one sense but less healthy in another.
So, there are significant benefits, side effects and unintended consequences. It’s important to recognise that at this early stage of widespread GLP-1 use it looks like the benefits are temporary. Research shows that within that year of stopping GLP-1 therapy most patients regain up to two-thirds of the weight they lost. Alongside with that regained weight is the associated rising blood pressure and cholesterol. For now, these drugs work but only as long as you keep using them.
A Widening Ripple of Effects…in Culture
Once a treatment moves from clinic to mainstream, the ripple effects extend far beyond healthcare. GLP-1s are healthcare interventions but they’re cultural, and economic disruptors. GLP-1’s aren’t just changing waistlines they’re transforming what and how we eat, with big consequences for the food industry. Their use is already altering conversations about body image with the rise of the stigma loaded phrase “Ozempic face,” describing a rapid weight loss that leaves people looking gaunt or with sagging skin.
...in Food Behaviour
GLP-1 therapy is a weight-loss intervention that suppresses appetite and surprisingly seems to alter taste!
Restaurant diners are choosing smaller meals while fried foods and desserts are less appealing. The knock-on effects reach far beyond the individual they change the viability of restaurants and what sits on supermarket shelves.
...in the food industry and further
- Supermarkets: early indications are that households with a GLP-1 user spend about 5% less on groceries in the first six months of treatment. Overall grocery purchases fall by 1–3%, with the sharpest drops in ultra-processed, sugary, high-fat products. This drop in purchase selection could be related to changing taste or the reduced appetite meaning there is less snacking. Supermarkets are adjusting by stocking shelves with smaller packaged products and launching new GLP companion brands.
- Restaurants: GLP-1 users seem to be eating out less when they do they order smaller portions, and skip appetisers, desserts, and sugary drinks. Restaurants are adjusting with “GLP-1-friendly” menu options, but will people pay the same for less? Smaller appetites and fewer diners could pose a real profitability challenge.
- Cultural Shifts: Food isn’t just fuel it’s at the heart of our social lives. What happens when fewer people “break bread”? Does it change the emphasis restaurants place on food and become more around entertainment, socialising and experience?
- Leisure & Retail: There’s nothing to say less money spent on food will still be spent in that sector. It might pay for a weekend away, a new gadget, or more likely new clothes for a changing body. For some, the savings may cover private prescriptions. Or inflation could simply eat up the difference.
Is this just hype and speculation?
How far will the ripple effects reach? Well it depends on how many use these drugs, and for how long. Many people stop using the GLP-1s, the main reasons for discontinuation seem to be cost, side effects, and waning results (the weight loss plateaus). However, the number of people eligible for access to GLP-1s in the UK either through the NHS or privately is a significant proportion of the population. In the UK, around 64% of adults are categorised as overweight or living with obesity. The NHS plans to roll out GLP-1 therapy for weight loss, but there is a potential shortfall in budgets and the timeline is uncertain. So it might be a trickle not a flood. Even considering this a modest uptake, combined with people choosing to take the private self-pay route, could transform sectors as outlined above.
This shift is being reinforced through government initiatives to change national eating behaviours. The UK government will soon require food companies to report healthy food sales and meet nutritional targets. GLP-1 therapy, paired with healthy food policy, could profoundly change what’s affordable and available having wide scale population impacts.
Beyond weight loss
GLP-1s are more than weight-loss drugs. They suppress appetite, change taste, and reshape behaviour. That affects what we eat, how much, and when the ripples of consequences could mean altering the social habits, spending patterns, and industry norms.
Are we witnessing the beginnings of a profound transformation reshaping the food economy, a changed restaurant industry and new cultural norms?
Expect things to change quietly, then suddenly all at once.
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Transparency on AI use: GenAI tools have been used to help draft and edit this publication and create the images. But all content, including validation, has been by the author.