Winning at losing: Keeping brands in the weight management game – article

When the American Medical Association recognized obesity as a chronic disease in 2013, it helped redefine weight management as less a matter of vanity than one of personal and even public health.

The pharmaceutical industry’s attempts to help consumers reach their healthiest weights have been less than successful. Until now. With the recently pivoted usage of blood sugar regulating medications, chiefly glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists including semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) among others, a new class of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) have emerged and demonstrated the effectiveness that consumers and clinicians long hoped for.

Consumers using these AOMs have a unique set of nutritional needs creating emerging market opportunities for health and wellness products.

Serious business

The extraordinary effectiveness of these drugs for losing weight is motivating more people, with the support of their health care professionals, to give these medications a chance. It’s resulting in ballooning market numbers. The economic weight of their curiosity and trial has generated a global market for AOMs that Goldman Sachs predicts will hit $130 billion by 2030.¹

In the United States alone, noted Brad Schwan, vice president of global category marketing at ADM, “Roughly 15% of adults are currently using a GLP-1 medication or considering it.² And the number of Americans treated with GLP-1 therapies could reach 30 million by 2028.”³

Leveraging appetite

These medications have achieved such noteworthy success not by ramping up users’ metabolisms, but by chipping away at their appetites.

More specifically, the drugs signal the pancreas to release insulin to help regulate blood sugar levels, while at the same time slowing gastric emptying, thus keeping the stomach feeling full for longer and reducing appetite. Moreover, the AOMs activate hypothalamic receptors that moderate food intake, reining in hunger perception and making it easier for users to say “when.”

Pain points

Those are the plus points. But widespread AOM adoption has brought to light a handful of pain points that emerge fairly consistently across users.

Chief among them is a reduction in lean muscle mass. Though this isn’t unique to GLP-1 therapies, evidence suggests that 20% to 40% of weight lost in any diet typically comes from muscle.⁴ The rapid weight loss that AOMs trigger has brought the attendant muscle loss into stark relief.

Further, by prolonging food’s transit through the gastrointestinal (GI) system, AOMs “may contribute to numerous GI-centric unpleasant effects,” Schwan said. According to the ADM Outside Voice™ Anti-Obesity Medications Survey fielded in September 2024, more than 40% of AOM users report GI discomfort.^*

Finally, the same ADM survey found that 44% of consumers taking GLP-1 products often feel less hydrated.

Rebound effect

And these are just the pain points that accompany AOM use; a whole new set of challenges arises when people transition off the medications.

For example, Schwan said, “We’re learning that the ‘food noise’ that’s dampened while on AOMs likely returns after stopping AOM use.”⁵ What’s more, users have been known to regain two-thirds of the weight they lost on AOMs within a year of stopping.⁶

None of which surprises Schwan. “Studies increasingly tell us that the biology and psychology of weight loss are very different from weight-loss maintenance,”⁷ he observed. “That increases the importance of developing dietary levers which may help support satiety. Simply put, we need to empower dietary choices consumers can live on.”

Sustaining support

ADM has been aiming directly toward this goal of empowering health and sustainable consumer choices, directing considerable resources toward understanding not just AOMs themselves, but also their users’ experiences and the resulting need to create an entirely new category of nutritional products designed to support those users healthfully on their weight-loss journeys.

Indeed, the ADM survey found that more than 83% of U.S. consumers on GLP-1 medications consider the notion of a food, beverage or supplement product specifically marketed as supporting their AOM use appealing.

No wonder Schwan is confident in the upside potential for new product development in the AOM-adjacent space. “And brands that see that potential,” he argued, “will win.”

Roadmap to innovation

Granted, Schwan conceded, “This is a novel category — but we’re on the front end of it.” As such, the company can guide supplement and functional food and beverage brands through the uncharted territory they’re beginning to explore.

Getting the lay of the land, Schwan said, “starts by deeply understanding the consumer and their science-based needs.” Having done that, he continued, “we’ve been able to develop a proprietary framework for addressing the three key needs consumers face while on AOMs and the two that come with discontinuing or ramping down use.”

Toolkit for AOM-companion product success

That framework rests on ADM’s existing catalogue of functional ingredients. For example, formulating AOM-companion products with the company’s plant-based proteins from such sources as soy, pea and wheat “can help support maintenance of lean muscle mass,” Schwan said.

To address AOMs’ gastrointestinal effects, ADM offers prebiotic dietary fibers and probiotics with clinically documented results for use in formulations supporting gut and digestive health.^8,9 The company’s DE111 1Bi probiotic is a well-known example of the latter, while its Fibersol soluble fiber has earned acclaim as a prebiotic fiber. Even ADM’s ES1 postbiotic shows promise in GI-oriented formulations.

“Avoiding dehydration is crucial,” Schwan added, “and ingredients like our coconut-water powder with isotonic properties, coupled with our SweetRight sweetening solutions and flavor-modulation technologies make beverages more appealing and provide manufacturers the tools to address AOM consumers’ needs.”

For brands looking to promote satiety in post-AOM companion products, Schwan recommended including not just prebiotic fibers which may increase or contribute to perceptions of satiety,¹⁰ but resistant tapioca starch and plant-based ingredients like soy and pea proteins as well.

And to help post-AOM consumers manage weight regain, he said, “Brands can tap into ADM concepts with biotics targeting aspects of metabolic health,¹¹ as well as sweetening solutions like our stevia and SweetRight tools, carb-conscious ingredients like fibers and flour replacers, and high-protein options.”

Applications in action

Schwan wagers that a variety of applications “can make sense for AOM users,” with the categories on ADM’s radar running to yogurts, ready meals, specialized nutrition, beverages, dietary supplements and bars and snacks. Simply choosing a platform that’s appealing, effective and easy to consume is a great place to start.

That said, one formulation conundrum that ADM recognized early involved serving sizes. “Brands face the challenge of packing the nutrients AOM users need into physically smaller food forms since these consumers generally don’t have the appetite to consume larger volumes of food,” Schwan explained.

That’s where high-impact nutrition in smaller doses comes into play. Per Schwan, “We’re solving this with innovative product formats, such as a no-added-sugar pudding that delivers 20 grams of protein using our pea protein and SweetRight sweetening solutions.”

It takes two

But rather than cook up solutions themselves, ADM wants to help brands game out their own creations. “We’re ready to have a two-way discussion with you,” Schwan insisted. “We’d love the chance to learn about your company and brands and how you’re thinking about the AOM opportunity.”

And with ADM’s proprietary research, ingredient portfolio and “full-formula product-development expertise” all on the bench, he added, opportunities are there for the taking.

“We see a ton of opportunity since this is a meaningfully large group of consumers with a distinct set of needs,” he continued. “Those brands that are first — and best — at figuring out how to meet AOM consumers’ emerging needs will enjoy marketplace success. We’re ready to be these brands’ go-to partner in achieving that success.”

^*ADM proprietary consumer research

1. Forbes. The Obesity Treatment Boom: Is This Only the Beginning? https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesfinancecouncil/2024/08/29/the-obesity-treatment-boom-is-this-only-the-beginning/#:~:text=The%20global%20market%20for%20anti,as%20high%20as%20%24144%20billion.

2. Civic Science. Ozempic Tracker Highlights: GLP-1 Users Pull Back on Dining Out and Exercising. https://civicscience.com/ozempic-tracker-highlights-glp-1-users-pull-back-on-dining-out-and-exercising/#:~:text=Ongoing%20CivicScience%20tracking%20shows%20that,weight%2Dloss%20purposes%20has%20grown.

3. Goldman Sachs. Obesity drugs are among health breakthroughs forecast to boost GDP. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/obesity-drugs-are-among-breakthroughs-forecast-GDP

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7. Rosenbaum M and Foster G. “Differential mechanisms affecting weight loss and weight loss maintenance.” Nat Metab. 2023 Aug;5(8): 1266-1274.

8. Srivastava S et al. “A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of live Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 (ES1) and heat-treated Bifidobacterium longum CECT 7347 (HT-ES1) in participants with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.” Gut Microbes. 2024 Jan-Dec;16(1): 2338322.

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10. Ye Z et al. “Soluble dietary fiber (Fibersol-2) decreased hunger and increased satiety hormones in humans when ingested with a meal.” Nutr Res. 2015 May;35(5): 393-400.

11. Pedret A et al. “Effects of daily consumption of the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis CECT 8145 on anthropometric adiposity biomarkers in abdominally obese subjects: a randomized controlled trial.” Int J Obes (Lond). 2019 Sep;43(9): 1863-1868.