I see it as something of a battle of the Titans.
The pharmaceutical industry coming up with glucagon-like-peptides (GLP-1 agonist) such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity. They stop people craving processed, addictive foods and this seems to have put the food industry in a panic.
A report by Tomas Weber on the New York Times podcast, The Daily, reports on the eating habits of people on these medicines, and how it has affected their food choices.
How the sample consumer he was shadowing had no interest in Doritos, HoHos, Pop-Tarts and other “industrial palate” foods manufactured to appeal to the rewards system. To tickle the ‘Bliss Point.’
The Miracle of GLP-1 Agonists
Glucagon is a natural hormone that has many metabolic effects that lower blood sugar and help weight loss. GLP-1 agonists are a synthetic version that have become a hot commodity working on multiple metabolic processes, increasing insulin, slowing gastric emptying, and particularly affecting the hypothalamus – one part of our primitive “reptile brain” that controls our most basic instincts like the desire to eat.
The consequence is people’s appetite is decreased. The satiety point is lowered, meaning you feel full with less food. They also diminishes that “droning monotone of want” that “food noise” that many overweight people have and can’t ignore.
This seems to be mediated through the “feel good” hormone dopamine - that hormone that is released by any pleasurable event, making eating for some is a true addiction – which food manufacturers capitalize on, producing highly refined foods loaded with salt, sugar and fat, all of which help stimulate that whole rewards mechanism, dopamine release and addiction..
Incidentally, there has been an interest in GLP-1 drugs being used to treat other addictive behaviors like nicotine, cocaine and alcohol dependence which also release dopamine.
A Devious Food Industry
The food industry is good at producing these crave-worthy foods – which are all the things we love like pizza, burgers, fries, cookies, sodas, chocolate, ice-cream. They all maximally stimulate our reward and pleasure mechanism.
Highly processed, sugary, salty, fatty foods as well as being addictive seem to have a particularly adverse effect on weight gain, judging by the report that the average calory consumption has plateaued recently and physical activity increased (two things that should slow the obesity epidemic), but obesity is still increasing – so that now one in three of the US population is obese, and there are plenty more who are over-weight but don’t quite fit the definition of obesity by having a BMI above 30.
In a rather devious way, while doing this, the food industry seem to make a pretense at being part of the solution - Heinz buying Weight Watchers. Cinnabon buying the rights to the Atkins diet for example.
Having so much obesity creates a huge market for drugs like the GLP-1 agonists, crucially reducing people’s cravings for those highly addictive foods. But this worries the food industry.
In the podcaster, Tom Weber reports the CEO of Novo Nordisk that produces Ozempic and Wegovy telling how he is getting calls from food executives who are “scared” about the fact that many people are drastically reducing their food consumption – though some companies are fighting back, like Nestle with its new line of foods, ‘Vital Pursuits’ where the portions are smaller but have added “vital nutrients” and fiber to promote sales.
Business Ethics
My normal position is that the pharmaceutical industry is the one that is extorting and manipulating the public, but in this instance, I would say they have the moral high ground producing an effective treatment for obesity, a real boon providing effective treatment for what is being seen more and more as a chronic disease, but associated with multiple health problems.
It’s the food industry promoting highly addictive foods that is the villain in my view, though the “holier-than-thou” position of the drug companies is somewhat tempered by charging an average of $1,200 a month for GLP-1 drugs, leading to sales of $25.10 billion in 2024 – and predictions of expanded treatment costing somewhere between $50 and 100 billion by 2030.
Even though annual healthcare costs for people with obesity are higher than for others ($3,097 per year versus $1,861) trying to provide everyone who is obese with GLP-1 agonists would break the bank.
Of course, if the pharmaceutical companies sold these drugs for a reasonable price. Or if the
food industry would back off on producing addictive – but very profitable - super-refined foods that fire up our dopamine, things would be better. But that would require the radical idea of these two industry titans prioritizing what’s good for society over profits.
That’s liable to be a cold day in hell.
