By Edward Fish, Senior Vice President and Basic Supervisor of Varietal Options at Bay State Milling
Key takeaways:
- GLP-1 medicines are reshaping client meals habits, with customers in search of smaller, extra nutrient-dense parts that assist satiety, digestion, and general wellness — driving a $190 billion market shift.
- Meals producers should reformulate merchandise and innovate with useful substances like high-fiber flours and protein-rich oats to fulfill GLP-1 consumer wants for clean-label, high-quality vitamin in reduced-calorie diets.
- Success on this evolving market requires cross-functional methods, together with ingredient R&D, up to date advertising, and product transparency, to serve each GLP-1 customers and the rising health-conscious client base.
The emergence of GLP-1 medicines has quickly developed from a scientific breakthrough to a transformational power shaping the meals business. As soon as primarily used for managing sort 2 diabetes, these medication are actually broadly prescribed for weight reduction and weight administration, ushering in a brand new period of client habits that meals producers can not afford to disregard.
As of early 2024, an estimated one in eight U.S. adults has taken a GLP-1 remedy, and adoption continues to rise. Initially dominated by older adults managing continual situations, the GLP-1 consumer base now consists of youthful customers, typically dad and mom with kids within the residence, whose buying selections have an effect on the complete family. The ripple impact is very large with analysts estimating a $190 billion market alternative tied to those shifting consumption patterns, in line with a report from KPMG.
To compete on this new panorama, meals producers should reassess every little thing from ingredient sourcing to product formulation to advertising technique. Since GLP-1 medicines work to imitate a pure hormone that slows gastric emptying and will increase satiety, customers are likely to eat much less and really feel full longer. Slowed appetites and smaller parts are inflicting customers to be extra intentional about meals decisions to make sure they’re consuming a balanced weight loss plan.
A shift towards intentional consuming
GLP-1 customers are exhibiting heightened demand for nutrient density, digestive assist, and useful substances that align with evolving weight administration targets. Analysis from NielsenIQ additionally reveals that purchasing habits are shifting in direction of merchandise that assist microbiome well being, mind perform, muscle composition, and sustained vitality.
Many GLP-1 customers stay in multi-person households, and their dietary adjustments influence broader household buying habits. Concurrently, customers are more and more scrutinizing ingredient panels to chop down on added sugars, refined carbs, and sodium, gravitating towards clean-label, useful, and better-for-you choices. This shift, mixed with rising GLP-1 use, is impacting buying selections in almost each grocery aisle.
Rethinking product formulation
This heightened deal with vitamin, and GLP-1 customers consuming fewer energy per day, means each chunk should work more durable. Meals producers should ship satiety and vitamin in smaller parts that also attraction to customers and style nice.
Many R&D groups need to ingredient innovation to drive product reformulations and new SKUs, notably in staple meals. Growing vitamin and including invaluable features like protein or fiber can draw these customers to a product that they could have in any other case neglected. At Bay State Milling, we’re seeing elevated curiosity for hard-working substances like high-fiber wheat flour and high-protein oats to assist this shifting market. These substances not solely assist digestive well being, but additionally stimulate short-chain fatty acid manufacturing, which performs an vital position in metabolism, immune perform, and even the physique’s pure GLP-1 hormone response.
At the moment’s wellness-focused customers are in search of great-tasting, high-quality vitamin — with out chemical components. For producers, the suitable substances not solely meet this demand, but additionally ship the performance and ease of use wanted to scale.
Supporting customers alongside their GLP-1 journey
Because the GLP-1 market phase grows, so will the demand for meals that assist customers throughout the varied levels of their weight reduction journey. Whether or not somebody is newly prescribed a drugs, managing uncomfortable side effects, or getting into a post-medication upkeep section, the necessity for handy, nutrient-rich, and palatable meals stays fixed. GLP-1 customers prioritize hydration, fiber, and protein although small, extra frequent meals.
This opens doorways for companion merchandise, corresponding to high-fiber snacks or protein-rich meal options that assist customers really feel full and nourished even with decreased consumption. It additionally challenges entrepreneurs to rethink packaging, in-store placement, and on-pack messaging to assist customers shortly establish merchandise aligned with their targets.
We’re already seeing manufacturers introduce merchandise with “GLP-1 pleasant” claims, a pattern more likely to speed up. Nonetheless, essentially the most profitable improvements can be those who genuinely ship on style, vitamin, and ingredient transparency.
Assembly the second
The GLP-1 revolution isn’t a passing fad. It’s a everlasting shift in how a rising phase of customers method meals, influencing shopping for selections for GLP-1 customers and their households. For meals producers, this represents a problem and a virtually $190 billion market alternative.
The secret is to behave now — by investing in ingredient R&D, reformulating high-velocity SKUs, and constructing cross-functional methods that combine vitamin science with market knowledge and product innovation. Meals producers that efficiently serve this viewers will earn loyalty not simply from GLP-1 customers, however from the broader health-conscious client phase that’s rising alongside them.
Edward Fish is the Senior Vice President and Basic Supervisor of Varietal Options at Bay State Milling, the place he brings new-to-the-world substances to market and focuses on distinctive IP varietals with inherently higher vitamin like HealthSense® Excessive-Fiber wheat flour and SowNaked® Mindfully Farmed Oats. Ed chairs the Board of Administrators’ Grains Council of the Natural Commerce Affiliation, and serves on the Board of Administrators of About Contemporary, a nonprofit getting wholesome meals to weak populations.
