GLP-1 take-up in Europe has been slower than the US, but it\u2019s speeding up. The number of users in Great Britain has tripled in just two years, according to a new survey. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done this study for three years now and every year we give it a new name,\u201c says Nishita Pattni, Senior Consultant at Worldpanel by Numerator. \u201dThis year, it\u2019s called From New to Normal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we mean by that is GLP-1 users are becoming mainstream. They now account for 6% of households in Great Britain. We risk treating them as a weight-loss trend or a small group of users that aren\u2019t significant, but their needs should be recognised and acknowledged as one that is rising rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what they want and why…<\/p>\n
Help with side-effects<\/p>\n
While GLP-1 drugs can be life-changing for many, they do come with side-effects and users look for support to deal with them. Where other categories have taken a nosedive, it\u2019s here that a rise in sales is seen. <\/p>\n
The survey of 11,500 households found that \u2018Ozempic mouth\u2019 is driving a 24 percentage point uplift in chewing gum confectionery among GLP-1 user households compared to non-user households. Mouthwash also saw a 20 percentage point uplift, showing that users really are struggling with oral health.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s not a listed side-effect of GLP-1s, \u2018Ozempic mouth\u2019 refers to some users reporting a metallic taste, dry mouth or bad breath. It\u2019s not clear what causes it and could because of gastrointestinal issues, dehydration or not eating enough, but it\u2019s an unpleasant thing to experience. <\/p>\n
Dr Nadia Ahmad, Medical Director of The Weight Care Clinic, sees it in clinic. \u201cSome patients experience dry mouth, which can make heavily salted snacks, very sweet foods and alcohol less appealing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But other foods and drinks take their place for her patients, she says. \u201cHydrating foods, yoghurt-based snacks, fruit, smoothies and protein-rich options often become more attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Small\u2011portion,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OSCMEP47YZESDAM3GIFDJXWWKQ.jpg\")
GLP-1 users want clear signposting to the foods they need (Image: M&S)Clear signposting<\/p>\n
When they\u2019re shopping for foods and drinks to ease side-effects and suit their new appetite levels, users want it to be easy to find what they\u2019re looking for. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about making that day-to-day shopping journey easier for GLP-1 users,\u201d says Pattni. \u201cNavigation in store to those types of products makes it much more user friendly for them. An example being M&S\u2019s Nutrient Dense range. It\u2019s things like that that these users need support on.\u201d<\/p>\n
While GLP-1 friendly labelling<\/a> is still a minefield in Europe, making the qualities of foods and drinks as obvious as possible is vital.<\/p>\n Bite-size and smaller portions<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a black-and-white picture and F&B is right to be going down the bite-size route. \u201cThere is nuance within categories and that\u2019s often format led,\u201d says Pattni. \u201cBite-sized chocolate categories are doing slightly better than bigger formats. So that specific nuance is where I think manufacturers have more of a role to play in listening to what these users are after.\u201d<\/p>\n This is reflected in what users want when they eat out too. Two-fifths (40%) of users said they want smaller portion sizes on menus, and over a quarter (26%) want GLP-1 friendly menu sections.<\/p>\n British users have cut an extraordinary \u00a3780m off their annual shopping bills and the survey confirms that chocolate and <\/b>crisps really are suffering.<\/p>\n That users cutting back in these categories isn\u2019t news to F&B but the severity of it found in this survey suggests that they\u2019re not going to recover. <\/p>\n Seventy two per cent said they had cut back on crisps and 75% had cut back on chocolate, and the retail data agrees. <\/p>\n There are plenty of hypotheses about which categories are more exposed by GLP-1 use and \u201cpeople often claim to cut back on categories\u201d, says Pattni, whereas the data often doesn\u2019t agree.<\/p>\n \u201cChocolate and crisps are two of the categories that users reported actively trying to cut back on and that is very much reflected in the data,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Chocolate confectionery spend among users fell 18 percentage points more than in non-user households.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t rely on lapsers<\/p>\n Side-effects were the top reason for giving up on GLP-1s in last year\u2019s survey, but this year, cost took the top spot. Four in 10 people who were on the drugs stopped in 2026 because of the expense. <\/p>\n But while that might mean they go back to their pre-GLP-1 shopping habits, the arrival of the GLP-1 pill in Europe<\/a> might see them disappear again. The pill is likely to be cheaper than the injectables and one (not yet available in Europe) has been shown to help maintain weight loss<\/a> after coming off injectables. <\/p>\n Final word<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest advice to manufacturers would be to not treat this as an elimination of spend,\u201d says Pattni. \u201cThere is a lot of nuance at a category level and beyond food and drink we are seeing, for example, hair styling and dyes do really well. So there is that lipstick effect coming through with smaller treats amongst these users. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd, yes, we\u2019re talking about crisps and chocolate declining, but crackers are a category that are actually doing relatively well amongst users. So there is a lot of nuance and that might be because crackers are seen as a slightly healthier alternative or a buildable alternative. <\/p>\n \u201cSo what I would say to food and drink manufacturers is that these users have needs that are evolving, they\u2019re managing tricky side-effects and it very much isn\u2019t a blanket story of decline.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Ahmad agrees. \u201cOne of the biggest misconceptions is that people on GLP-1 medications stop caring about food,\u201d she says. \u201cIn reality, they still want enjoyment, comfort and social connection through food, but they\u2019re looking for quality over quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLP-1 user insights: overview Health and side-effects are driving choices Smaller, smarter consumption \u2013 preference is for bite-sized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1032213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,34331,21026,36195,284838,38591,115613,129254,275606,79334,393,4884,284839,1144,206669,284840,284841,712,91760,5697,52301,51999,275611,284842,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1032212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-cakes","tag-chocolates","tag-christmas-party","tag-christmas-time","tag-close-up","tag-colorful","tag-crisps","tag-delicious","tag-eat","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-mince-pies","tag-northern-ireland","tag-pile","tag-potato-chips","tag-potato-chips-bowl","tag-scotland","tag-snacking","tag-sugar","tag-sweet","tag-sweets","tag-tasty","tag-treats","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116765115482005465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1032212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1032213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1032212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1032212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1032212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chocolate](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TNUV75JZTJGMLKX22QG22KCX4Q.jpg\")
GLP-1 users are cutting back on chocolate and crisps (Image: Getty Images\/Duncan Cuthbertson.)Extra insights<\/p>\n