Executive Briefing
Ozempic users are going crazy for deli meat, fries, and handbags
GLP-1s are life-changing drugs, transforming not only waistlines but also identity and indulgence.
By Dan Frommer on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 8:00 am
Ozempic and other GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have not torpedoed the food and CPG industries the way some had feared. But they do drive meaningful shifts in users’ spending.
I recently watched a new, hourlong presentation from Circana about GLP-1 users’ changing grocery and retail shopping habits, based on its checkout-scanner and omnichannel shopping data (link to full slide deck).
Here are some of the highlights.
The number of Americans taking GLP-1 drugs continues to grow substantially. There’s no official tally, but Circana believes that 23% of US households — about 30 million — had at least one GLP-1 user in September, suggesting there are tens of millions of users. By 2030, five years from now, it expects GLP-1 households to purchase 35% of food sold in the US (measured by units), up from 24% today.
GLP-1 usage continues to shift toward weight loss and cosmetic/aesthetic/casual/microdosing usage, away from diabetes management. As usage has grown, 78% of GLP-1 users now cite weight loss as a motivating factor for using the drugs, up from 37% in 2021. Meanwhile, 43% cite diabetes as a motivating factor today, down from 75% in 2021. Almost half of users are now “weight only,” twice the proportion as two years ago.
Deli meats are a big winner as GLP-1 users shift their grocery spending toward products high in protein and fiber. Protein is a top food trend for many consumers, but especially for GLP-1 users, who need to preserve muscle mass while losing weight.
The top-gaining categories among active GLP-1 users, as tracked by Circana, include prepared deli meats; snack bars and granola; refrigerated lunches, seafood, and yogurt; beverages, including sports drinks; fresh citrus; gum; and dried meat snacks.
Here’s how to read the data on these slides, btw: The “average pre-GLP baseline index” shows how GLP-1 users’ spending compares to the average US household (100) before they started using the medication. So in the case of deli prepared meats, active GLP-1 users were at 106 to begin — roughly 6% bigger shoppers than the average household. Adding another 8.8 points in a year, then, as they did in the case of deli meat, is pretty significant.
Fries — the great equalizer. Balancing sensible foods with treats, weight-loss focused GLP-1 users over-index in eating protein-rich eggs for breakfast (20% of the time) and chicken for lunch.
But they way over-index in eating fries at lunch (12% of the time) and cookies at dinner.
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Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
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