How GLP-1 Medications Are Changing the Way People Shop for Food

Here is a fascinating little discovery: households with someone taking a GLP-1 medication trimmed their grocery spending by about 5% within six months of starting, and the foods they bought less of were mostly snacks, sweets and fast food. Cornell University researchers found this by looking at real purchase records instead of asking people what they think they eat, and the study appears in the Journal of Marketing Research.

The paper, “The No-Hunger Games: How GLP-1 Medication Adoption Is Changing Consumer Food Demand,” is by Sylvia Hristakeva, Jūra Liaukonytė and Leo Feler. An earlier version drew coverage in Food Dive in January 2025, reporting a drop of about 6%. The published version puts the figure at 5.3%, so that is the number we use here.

How the researchers looked at your grocery cart

The team paired survey answers about GLP-1 use, including when people started, with transaction records from the market-research firm Numerator. Numerator tracks grocery and restaurant purchases for a nationally representative panel of roughly 150,000 U.S. households. That scale is the study’s big strength: instead of relying on memory, the researchers could see what actually went into carts and onto receipts before and after a household began the medication.

The results

• Grocery spending fell 5.3% within six months of a household starting a GLP-1 medication.
• Higher-income households cut back more, with reductions above 8%.
• Spending at limited-service restaurants, meaning fast-food chains and coffee shops, fell by roughly 8%.
• Savory snacks fell by about 10%, with similar drops in sweets, baked goods and cookies. Bread, meat and eggs declined too.
• A few categories rose modestly: yogurt, fresh fruit, nutrition bars and meat snacks.

Less of the indulgent stuff, more of the good stuff

What makes this so interesting is the shape of the change. Households did not stop buying food, and they did not swap their carts for something completely different. They simply bought less of what is easy to overeat and held steady, or edged up, on foods that pack protein or fiber into a small portion. Dietitians describe the same thing: when appetite is smaller, there is less room for foods that offer calories without much else, so every bite works harder. If you want to put that idea on your own plate, our guide to building a balanced plate when your appetite is small walks you through it.

What happens when people stop

Here is another neat result: the shift seems to depend on staying on the medication. After a household stopped, the effects became smaller and harder to tell apart from earlier spending patterns. Among households that kept going, the effects lasted at least a year. In other words, the shopping pattern looks tied to the appetite effect rather than to a permanent change in habits.

Why food companies are paying attention

A drop of around 5% across a growing group of households is a number grocers, restaurants and packaged-food makers watch closely. Snack and bakery aisles took the biggest hit in this study, while the categories that held steady are the ones where protein-forward marketing is already growing. Have you noticed protein badges popping up on more and more packages? Our protein explainer helps you decide what to make of them.

A few honest limits

• It is observational. It shows a strong pattern linked to starting a medication, not a controlled experiment, and households may have changed other habits at the same time.
• GLP-1 use is reported by households. Survey answers about medication use and timing can be imperfect.
• It measures households, not individuals. A household with one GLP-1 user buys food for everyone in it.

What this means in your own kitchen

You do not need a medication to borrow the idea. Anyone whose appetite has shrunk, whether from medication, age or a stressful stretch, tends to feel better when every bite carries more nutrition. And if you are curious how these medications work in the first place, our explainer on why researchers are so interested in GLP-1 medications walks through the trial evidence. If you take a prescription medication, your prescriber or a registered dietitian can tailor eating advice to you.

Sources

1. Hristakeva S, Liaukonytė J, Feler L. The No-Hunger Games: How GLP-1 Medication Adoption Is Changing Consumer Food Demand. Journal of Marketing Research. 2026;63(3):427-444. Preprint: SSRN 5073929
2. ScienceDaily, summary of the study (January 12, 2026): sciencedaily.com
3. Food Dive, “GLP-1 drug use cuts grocery spending by 6%, study finds” (January 2, 2025), reporting on the earlier version of the research: fooddive.com

Original research credit: Hristakeva, Liaukonytė and Feler (Cornell University), using Numerator data. Our summary is written in our own words. Not medical advice; see our Medical Disclaimer.

Published October 2, 2026. We update articles when new evidence or official guidance changes. If you spot an error, tell us.