It seems that weight is not the only thing that Ozempic helps people to lose. New research shows that people who use GLP-1 therapy tend to lighten their shopping lists, too.
Cornell University scientists examined people’s shopping habits after they started using the drug GLP-1. Compared to similar households that did not report GLP-1 use, people in GLP-1s spent less on their grocery bill, especially on convenience foods. Effects on grocery use are only seen as long as people are taking the drug, however.
“The data show clear changes in food consumption after adoption,” said study author Sylvia Hristakeva, an assistant professor at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business, in a statement from the university.
GLP-1 dip
Studies have consistently shown that GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) help people lose weight more effectively than diet and exercise alone. Other studies have also shown that people’s eating habits change significantly for the better when they receive GLP-1.
According to the authors, however, this recent study relies heavily on self-reported studies of GLP-1 users, which may be subject to several problems (people still can’t remember even their last, single meal). In this current study, they were able to analyze more objective data from market research firm Numerator, which regularly tracks the grocery and restaurant shopping habits of a large, representative sample of American households. Importantly, these data also included information about whether someone in the household had started taking a GLP-1 medication.
They compared households where at least one person reported being on GLP-1 medication with similar households where no recent GLP-1 use was reported. Overall, the GLP-1 families decreased by 5.3% in grocery consumption within six months of receiving the drug, the researchers found. The highest income households decreased by 8.2%. Although there were reductions in many types of food, the biggest decrease was seen in sweet snacks; GLP-1 families spent an average of 10.1% less on this diet. In contrast, GLP-1 users began spending more on healthy food categories such as yogurt and fresh fruit.
It’s not always
The findings also seem to confirm a sad truth about these drugs—they only work as long as you take them.
About one-third of families reported stopping their GLP-1 during the study. And the researchers found that these people’s grocery spending is rising to their core. Some former users even started buying a larger portion of unhealthy foods than before, such as candy. Some studies have suggested that people who stop GLP-1 therapy tend to regain most of the weight they lost, usually within months.
It is not at all a habit of these drugs as anyone who has tried and failed to lose weight before knowing Ozempic. But it’s an important consideration to keep in mind for people thinking about going to GLP-1. However, the researchers say their work shows how these drugs not only change the numbers of people on the weight scale but also society as a whole.
“These findings highlight the potential of GLP-1 drugs to significantly alter consumer demand for food, a trend that has important implications for the food industry as adoption of GLP-1 continues to grow,” the authors wrote in their paper, published this month in the Journal of Marketing Research.
