The only halfway tasty thing in Cindy’s fridge is half of the Italian chicken sandwich she had for lunch but couldn’t finish. The rest of the fridge is basically healthy, boring proteins.
“So, yes, I have my protein shakes that are always in my fridge,” said Cindy, who did not want to give her last name for medical privacy reasons. “Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt.”
Cindy, a 43-year-old dental hygienist, is among about 12% of Americans who have taken a GLP-1 drug, a group of extremely popular obesity drugs like Ozempic that suppress appetite.
Cindy started taking the GLP-1 Wegovy in March of last year when she weighed about 225 pounds. Since then, she has lost 70 pounds.
She has banned unhealthy foods from her house for years, but by taking GLP-1, her cravings have decreased significantly, even for coffee and alcohol.
“I don’t eat mindlessly anymore,” she said. “If I’m craving something that might not be good, I might eat a piece of cake and that’s it. I don’t need any more of it. I don’t need another piece.”
GLP-1s make you feel full very quickly and for a long time. By taking GLP-1, Cindy was able to reduce her food budget by about $200 per month.
This is a problem for the food and beverage industry. A recent analysis by Morgan Stanley predicts that GLP-1 will reduce consumption of sodas, baked goods and salty snacks by as much as 3% over the next decade.
Snack makers are trying to adapt. Nestlé, maker of Kit Kats candy and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, is planning a GLP-1-friendly frozen food line called Vital Pursuits, featuring protein-packed pasta and sandwiches.
At the Mattson Food Laboratory south of San Francisco, a team of food scientists in lab coats chop onions and measure spices in a commercial kitchen.
Mattson is a food research and development company that helps major food brands develop new products. This is where White Castle’s Frozen Jalapeno Cheese Sliders and Annie’s Pizza-Flavored Cheesy Rice with Hidden Veggies were born.
Senior food scientist Amanda Sinrod throws a more GLP-1-friendly snack on the grill: a chicken strip.
“Think of the packaging as a cheese stick, only with chicken, which is higher in protein and a little more versatile as an on-the-go snack,” she says.
Grilled chicken strips, packaged like cream cheese, are one of the snacks Mattson developed after surveying GLP-1 users about the change in their taste.
“You have to realize that a consumer who used to be able to eat a 4-ounce serving of snack is now looking for a 1.5-ounce serving,” says Barb Stuckey, Mattson’s chief innovation and marketing officer.
According to Stuckey, snack manufacturers can also make money with smaller portions if they package and market them properly – just think of the many snack packages of nuts and cheese that you see in the supermarket.
However, smaller portion sizes are the easy part. The hard part is getting rid of the loyal pretzel and potato chip eaters.
“We hear people say, ‘I’m still missing the crunch,'” says Stuckey. “But the crunch that they want from apples or cucumbers or carrots. I mean, this is like a fundamental change.”
Mattson has developed so-called “snack concepts” that are tailored to GLP-1 users.
For example, a freeze-dried chicken and tomato soup that is less than half the size of a cup noodle is said to help with nausea, a common side effect. Powdered drinks containing protein and fiber – nutrients that GLP-1 users often lack – are also available.
And of course the portable grilled chicken strips that were packaged like cream cheese. They tasted – you guessed it – like chicken.
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