To wonder if 'Big Food' are up in arms about weight loss injections?

[Iamsunshineinabag]

I've just finished reading Ultra Processed People (great book!) and the realisation that so much processed food is irresistible because they literally design it to be has got me thinking - are the companies that make our favourite salty snacks, fizzy drinks, ready meals, processed foods etc concerned about how many people are using the weight loss injections?

I'm not on the injections myself but a couple of family members are and they are amazed by how the food noise is quietened and they don't crave all this stuff anymore. They are just giving their bodies what they objectively need rather than what they crave. It's a game changer really!

But what are the big food companies thinking? Anyone have any inside info?!

I doubt the 'big food' industry is quaking in its boots just yet. There are plenty of people who don't fit the criteria for taking the WLI still enjoying their products. I, for example, practically have shares in McVities, so great is my love of biscuits.

Unless there is a plan to put the drug in the water, there will always be people who don't qualify for WLI who.like to eat this stuff.

Absolutely, Weight Watchers have a GLP-1 plan you can follow. Everyone will be cashing in.

I'm not surprised, it's what the tobacco companies essentially did. Capitalism always wins.

The food industry is pivoting to catch the "high protein" trend, even the weight loss groups are producing plans or ways to integrate people on the jabs into current programmes (cue massive drama when I was at the nail salon last night over someone getting slimmer of the week who people suspect is on the jabs and "cheating").

I am sure capitalism will continue to run with minimal side effects during my transition from lard arse to mildly wobbly arse.

these weightloss injections really get peoples backs up dont they?! I find it hilarious some of the rubbish people come out with to try to put others off taking them

It seems that a lot of people are letting their fat phobia get in the way of reality on this thread. People don't want fat people to lose weight unless they can do it without any medical assistance

Surely a person who's scared of fat people would want them to lose weight so they're not as scary?

I find it so interesting just how upset some people get about others taking weight loss injections to modify their body chemistry to impact their weight in a way they don't about people taking e.g. anti-depressants to modify their mood.

big food will be fine - you have to over eat to get to the position where you need the weight loss drugs! New generations of humans are being born which are new ready customers for them. It would be take the entire world to shift their eating habits at once to affect Big Food in the way you mean.

Isn't that just because taking anti-depressants is more widespread nowadays, though? Plus, some people are still dead against them and very vocal about that.

Anti-depressants weren't always as socially acceptable as they generally tend to be today, as cultural change around these things takes many years - it seems pretty normal that there will be debates and strong feelings about a new product that dramatically alters people's lifestyles and appearance, and I don't see this as unique to WLIs.

The same people as pay for medications for all the other chronic conditions. Or do you feel that fat fat people are unworthy?

This thread is absolutely dripping with prejudice against overweight people. It's very eye opening.

Using and Being on a weighloss jab long term (some cases not all) is not ok according to some! These people are Losing the weight and stopping the need to take other medications (statins/BPtabs) at all in some cases. Saving the nhs ££ long term. They are healthier, happier and able to work.

it is more acceptable though in their eyes to overeat, be obese and be on long term medication eg blood pressure tablets/statins and die of a heart attack. Costing the nhs ££ and resources

They think - if you cant lose the weight by “eating less and moving more- after all it really is that simple” 🤦🏻‍♀️ then you shouldn't be using the medication!

Its just madness how some people think!

Exactly this. You can see how traditional confectionary brands now invest heavily into protein bars etc. They is a lot of anxiety among those companies about those drugs. Prices of cocoa have skyrocketed and margins are thin, so even small impact on sales will be very serious for a lot of them.

According to a recent poll .some 84% of Brits are not using these jabs ,or indeed know anyone that is.They will be given out on NHS to the relatively few morbidly obese .Most people carry some extra weight ,but whether they would be inclined to use an injection would be questionable .An article with a lady of 34 stones followed her progress .She is doing very well am I wish her luck.I think it has been completely overblown by the media as some sort of "miracle drug" It still has some unpleasant side effects , and requires willpower and a strict following of the rules . I think it is not going to impact the food industry at all!

No because they lose having somebody to hate on and feel superior to.

They’ve probably invested in it somewhere along the line. Has there been any studies on who exactly it is that is profiting? I mean down to actual individuals…

Do you think that's what fat phobia means?

I've thought about this too.
Over time it will be noticeable on fast food profits
Supermarket junk
Also the effect on friendships and relationships, people not bonded through food anymore.
But the confidence and health effects are more important

DH is taking MJ.

I am also losing weight as we are no longer buying snacks. No more sharing bags of crisps whilst sat on the sofa to tempt me with!

I can happily go without snacks and UPF but DH used to indulge, and that tempted me too. No more!

my point is yes, we are also buying less when doing the weekly shop.

When a colleague had bariatric surgery several years ago, she had months of therapy and counselling to prep for the operation and eating habits beforehand, several years ago, and follow up appointments afterwards. (not sure how well that worked - her idea of new eating habits was that she could only eat a really small piece of pizza)

Given that the NHS prescription of weigh loss jabs is limited to 2 years, presumably the medication should be prescribed alongside therapy/healthy eating/exercise - which will take time to put in place and recruit for.

A friend seeing a private consultant for wegovy prescriptions gets a limited amount of advice/monitoring - but she does have the additional £500 a month expense to help her keep on the straight and narrow.

I take sema glutide tablets for diabetes - I am not entirely sure how they compare to the injections, but you can certainly still eat a lot of crap whilst taking them, Thus if the reason you eat compulsively is not because you're hungry, they won't necessarily be that helpful.

Eh, no, the nhs has already announced a 12 year roll out plan. And as there are 8 more drugs in final trial stages and a pill in the same stage, plus the patent for ozempic running out on 26, then I think it’s obvious it won’t be 12 years, because very soon it will be cheap, efficient, and anyone already seeing a doc who meets the criteria will be prescribed.

I hate this argument. No one hates fat people, no one is jealous that you're losing weight - I think they are valid questions. I think these injections are absolutely fantastic for tackling obesity, however, the NHS isn't made of money, if we can give these injections to people, enable them to lose weight, change their eating habits and thrive, why would we continue paying for a slim person to stay on them when some trusts can't afford to employ nurses, midwives etc..

It’s the nonsense being posted that’s disturbing.i and others are repeatedly correcting people. I can’t decide if they make it up in their own heads, want to beleive it. Or actually just read some shite somewhere and clung onto it.

Do you think that's what fat phobia means?

Well, I thought that was what phobia meant.

If a xenophobic person wants foreigners to go back to their own country, and a transphobic person wants trans people not to exist, and an arachnophobic person can't be near spiders, it sounds like the word works differently for fat phobia.

Are you saying that a person with fat phobia wants to be surrounded by fat people, then?

There's an awful lot of obese people paying for them out of their own pockets. It's win/win for the nhs, surely?

Fatphobia means an unreasonable dislike or poorly treating fat people. You can try google. Even the dictionary defines it. You genuinely can’t have thought it was a fear of fat people? Surely some part of you thought that was ridiculous?