Jeremy Clarkson’s feet have got smaller. His stomach, too. The TV presenter told The Telegraph, he had lost “three stone while taking the weight-loss jab Mounjaro.”
Currently, there are a lot of what might be called ‘Ozempicky eaters’ in the UK. Clarkson being just one of them. According to the BBC, there are “about 1.5 million people on weight-loss drugs.” And many industry analysts puts the figure even higher.
Some estimating 2.5 million Brits are taking GPL-1s (weight-loss jabs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy.) Like Clarkson, many have reported a reduction in shoe size as well as shirt size. Globally, the figures are even more extraordinary. The Grocer comments, “Analysts project the global GPL-1 market to reach around $126 billion (£103 billion) by 2029, with more than 40 million users worldwide.” This number is likely to take a sizable bite out of the global food industry’s profits. (Some reports suggest snack-food sales alone could drop by as much as $12 billion worldwide in the next ten years.)
It’s clear the jabs profoundly affect consumer behaviour. The Guardian reports a recent survey in which patients taking the shots “ate less and cut back the most on foods high in sugar and fat. About 90% of those using the drugs said their snacking declined and 77% said they visited fast-casual restaurants less often.”
So, how is the industry responding?
The Grocer again, “If GPL-1s reshape how people eat, food companies may respond not by shirking portions but by investing new categories altogether – perhaps products containing microdoses of GPL-1s, marketed as “metabolic support.” And if hunger and fullness stop driving purchase, brands will simply engineer new cues: emotional reward, self-optimisation, sensory novelty.”
Mike Bagshaw, owner of specialist Flavour House ITS, agrees. Bagshaw told the specialist site Food Manufacture, “I think we will also see more attention placed on nutritionally dense foods with increased levels of protein, vitamins and minerals and a boatload of reformulation across all sectors.”
In the UK, food producers have made responding to GPL’s challenges a top priority. Greggs CEO, Roisin Currie, told The Telegraph, “We have got a variety of protein-led options in our range, and also making sure that we’ve got some of the snack products that customers are looking for if they are on any of the GPL-1 drugs.”
Historically, the food industry has always reacted proactively to changes in the market. It adapts and innovates. For that reason, in the long term, it seems unlikely that sales will continue to move in the same direction as Jeremy Clarkson’s feet.