They’re the injections helping some people shed pounds, but weight-loss drugs are also transforming the way people spend.
About 1.6 million people in the UK used weight-loss jabs in 2024, the latest research from University College London suggests, with millions more saying they’d be interested in trying them.
For those paying privately, they can cost more than £300 a month – but with their popularity only expected to rise, how are businesses adapting to a new type of consumer?
Weight-loss injections work by mimicking a natural hormone, GLP-1, which regulates hunger, and those who use them find their appetite is reduced.
“My weekly food shop’s really gone down,” says Sam Gillson, 38, from Shropshire, who got in touch with BBC Your Voice. He’s lost more than four stone using weight-loss jabs since June.
“I’m definitely buying more fresh foods, and fewer unhealthy ready meal/easy dinner options like pizza, chips and nuggets.”
In the last few weeks, supermarkets The Co-op, Morrisons and Marks and Spencer have brought out nutrient-dense ranges of ready meals, and Ocado now sells a 100g steak, which it said was in response to the growing number of customers seeking smaller portions.
Sam says eating less means he wants to make sure that “the smaller quantity does contain all those nutrients and vitamins you need”.
And it’s not just portion size. It’s also the kinds of foods.
Protein-rich products have been appearing on the shelves as smoothies and snacks.
Jonny Forsyth, food and drink strategist at consumer research group Mintel, says many of these trends are part of a wider shift, with health becoming more important, particularly for younger consumers.
He thinks GLP-1 drugs are “changing the culture”, making it fashionable to eat more nutrient-dense foods and “adding oxygen to existing trends”.
A survey by research consultancy KAM Insight last year found that nearly a third of people using GLP-1 drugs were going out to eat and drink less often.
Annie Haslam, 70, from Cornwall, has been using weight-loss injections since last March, and is currently spending around £186 a month on the jabs.
“Instead of having takeaways once or twice a month, I haven’t had one for months,” she says. “I used to eat out at a restaurant once a week maybe, I don’t do that any more.”
Sam also says he’s cut down on the number of takeaways he gets, but adds that while he feels healthier, he’s not actually saving any money given the cost of the injections themselves.
Earlier this month the boss of the bakery chain Greggs said there was “no doubt” that weight-loss drugs have led to people looking for “smaller portions”.
And it’s happening in fine dining too. The Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck in Berkshire, run by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, has brought out a new menu, which Blumenthal said was for people looking to eat more “mindfully”, including those who are on appetite suppressants.
There’s evidence too that those taking weight-loss drugs drink less alcohol.
A study carried out in February 2025 by consumer research firm Worldpanel by Numerator found a 15-percentage point drop in alcohol volume purchases among households with GLP-1 users compared to a controlled benchmark.
The Co-Op’s food trading director Nicole Tallant told the BBC the supermarket’s members who take weight-loss drugs are “reducing their alcohol intake alongside their consumption intake from food,” adding that “they’re much more concerned with overall health and holistic well-being”.
Recent years have also seen a surge in non-alcoholic drinks options hitting shelves and bars. The British Beer and Pub Association expects a record 200 million pints of low and no-alcohol beer to have been consumed in 2025.
“There’s already quite a strong trend towards sobriety,” says Mintel’s Jonny Forsyth.
“If I was an alcohol company, I’d be a bit worried about this. GLP-1 drugs could give that trend another boost.”
For Annie, one area she couldn’t avoid spending on was clothing. After going from a size 18 to a size 12, she says her old clothes were “literally falling off”.
She estimates that replacing everything, including underwear, probably cost her “a couple of thousand pounds”.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, says that while none of the big fashion retailers on the stock market have explicitly talked about weight-loss drugs in their financial results commentary, in his view, the direction of travel is clear.
The popularity of weight-loss drugs will provide “a massive tailwind (boost) for the fashion sector”, he says.
While it’s unclear how this will present itself, Coatsworth believes second-hand platforms like Vinted, which are already popular, could see even more growth, for people who quite quickly find their wardrobe no longer fits.
People who have lost a lot of weight quickly may also find a new sense of confidence and be inspired to “reinvent” themselves by trying new clothes that they wouldn’t have before, says Simone Konu-Rae, a senior lecturer in fashion communication at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts in London.
“You may not have felt that any of these trends or fashion outlets have been speaking to you, if you were a bigger size,” she says. “So you might shop completely differently.”
That desire for a new look is also being felt in the beauty and fitness sector.
Market research firm Worldpanel by Numerator’s survey last year suggested a boost in spending on healthcare, toiletries and supplements among people taking weight-loss injections.
Some companies – in the US and now in the UK too – that offer wellness breaks are now advertising specific “retreats” targeting GLP-1 users.
Will Orr, chief executive of The Gym Group, says weight-loss drugs are leading to a greater demand for fitness services as people taking them look to keep the weight off and build muscle mass.
“We have begun educating our trainers on how best to support members on these treatments,” he says.
But he also notes a broader pattern of behaviour that pre-dates weight-loss drugs, calling health, fitness and wellness “juggernaut trends that are not going anywhere”.
That view is echoed by Georgia Stafford, research analyst in the beauty and personal care team at Mintel, who says while GLP-1s are “definitely something on most brands’ radars”, unlike the food industry, beauty brands are yet to launch products in the UK aimed specifically at users of weight-loss drugs.
“There have been some launches in the US,” she says, “but they’re very niche and very expensive,” pointing out that the cost of weight-loss drugs may also lead to people cutting back on spending in other areas.
Instead, she says many products on offer promising plumper skin and fuller hair, often marketed as anti-ageing, will already be aligned with what may appeal to those on weight-loss drugs.
Meanwhile, data from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons indicated there was an 8% rise in demand for facelifts in 2024, with the group’s president saying it was “an extension of a pattern we’ve always observed in post-weight-loss patients” that was “now amplified by the wider use of these medications”.
Additional reporting by Emer Moreau and Kris Bramwell
Originally published at BBC News
