Raegan Sather says her urge for food has fully modified — and so has her strategy to grocery procuring — since she began taking the weight-loss drug Ozempic two years in the past.
Sather, a advertising and marketing skilled in Edmonton, buys contemporary produce, contemporary meat and high-protein meals to complement the fashionable medicine. But the largest change is that she now skips proper previous the snack aisle.
The drug “completely eliminated any snacking,” stated Sather — eliminating her earlier night behavior of consuming popcorn, for example. “I had dinner and that was it.”
With a rising variety of North American adults utilizing Ozempic and different fashionable, injectable medicine like Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound for weight reduction, meals companies are fastidiously watching to see how the craze is impacting their backside line — and cooking up methods to market their merchandise towards people on these drugs.
Nestle has launched a line of ready meals aimed toward sufferers taking GLP-1 medicine (the drug class to which Ozempic and Wegovy belong), whereas executives at yogurt firm Danone and beverage big Coca-Cola have touted high-protein, low-sugar merchandise, additionally to attraction to GLP-1 customers.
Whether the technique will work is one other story. Even when you’re utilizing a weight-loss drug, “it’s still up to you on how you are going to manage your dietary responses,” stated Sather.
Between 900,000 and 1.4 million Canadians are at present utilizing a GLP-1 drug, in keeping with a December survey from Dalhousie University. The survey had a complete of 8,662 respondents, with a margin of error of 1.84 per cent.
Meanwhile, a Gallup analysis ballot discovered that 15.5 million American adults had used injectable weight-loss medicine whereas one other report anticipated that 9 per cent of American adults might be taking a GLP-1 drug by 2030.
Ozempic was developed to deal with diabetes, however turned fashionable for its weight-loss results.
The Current16:26Ozempic’s prospects — and the unintended penalties
Dr. Daniel Drucker’s analysis helped create the diabetes drug Ozempic, a drugs that has develop into fashionable due to its off-label use for weight reduction. He speaks with host Matt Galloway about the drug’s future and issues about its recognition in superstar tradition.
Changing shopper habits
There’s at all times a core 15 to twenty per cent of the inhabitants that may leap on a brand new weight loss program craze, says Robert Carter, a meals trade analyst and managing accomplice at Stratton-Hunter Group.Â
Food companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola are “always in tune with how these different changes are affecting consumer purchase habits overall,” he stated. But this is no South Beach or Atkins weight loss program.Â
“These drugs really suppress appetite [and] food cravings. So this is resulting in an overall decrease in food consumption,” he stated.
The Ozempic craze additionally ties into the broader well being and wellness development that is been underway in the meals trade for the final a number of years. Companies had been already shifting towards these merchandise, however the medicine have accelerated it, Carter says.
As for whether or not companies must be involved, Carter says it is unlikely. “I think it’s just a continued evolution of the consumer purchase behaviour as it relates to food.”
Questions are swirling round the use of semaglutide, generally offered below the model title Ozempic, for weight reduction. CBC’s Christine Birak explores the dangers and advantages of off-label makes use of of the drug, which is historically used to deal with Type 2 diabetes.
No substitute for house cooking
Nestle, for instance, says the product line it is launching in the U.S. is meant to be a “companion” for people taking GLP-1 medicine or in any other case attempting to handle their weight.Â
The menu contains pizzas, sandwich melts and high-protein pasta bowls, every for $5 US.
But Toronto-based registered dietician Abby Langer says she will already hear the backlash — that ultra-processed meals can result in weight achieve in the first place, and that packaging extra ultra-processed meals as Ozempic-friendly is counterproductive.
People taking such medicine may additionally be lacking out on protein, fibre and essential micronutrients as a result of they’re consuming much less meals total, she informed CBC News.Â
“I do think that people should have some sort of choice when it comes to meal preparation. Having these meals in a pinch could be a good thing,” stated Langer, however she at all times recommends cooking contemporary meals at house for weight reduction.
Sather, the Ozempic person, says wholesome consuming will at all times issue into the drug’s effectiveness.
 “This is not a magic drug,” she stated. “It’s still just a tool and you still have to make the right decisions in order for it to work properly.”
