Back in December, American restaurant chain Shake Shack introduced a new menu. High protein, gluten-free, vegetarian and GLP-1 friendly. What does GLP-1 friendly even mean? Well, people taking medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are supposed to eat a certain kind of diet. Fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and a whole lot of Canadians are taking them for diabetes or weight management. And we're talking millions of people. And that number could rise now that the federal government has approved a generic version. So will these drugs change what's on the menu? We look at how GLP-1 could impact the food industry.

When you take medications like Ozempic, you eat less food and digest it differently, and it's important to eat the right kinds to avoid side effects and get enough nutrients. Meaning there may be an opportunity here for the food industry.

It's pretty significant. Every time you visit a corporation or you actually talk to an executive in the food industry, they talk about two things: AI and GLP-1. And absolutely. So it's impacting the snacking industry, the alcohol industry, both service retail. It's been pretty impressive. The impact is actually quite measurable right now.

I want to pull up some data from a poll done by Leger Healthcare earlier this year that looked at GLP-1 use in Canada. Approximately 3 million Canadians are taking a prescription GLP-1, which equals to about 8% of the population. Weight loss is the primary reason for interest in a GLP-1. Women are more likely than men to cite weight loss, while men are more likely than women to cite heart health or cardiovascular risk reduction. Now, cost is the number one factor influencing potential use of a GLP-1 amongst those with interest; over half, say, insurance coverage or a lower cost generic version would increase their likelihood of using a GLP-1. So how consistent is this data with the conversations that you're having with users or with market specialists?

Yeah, results are very, very similar. So the 3 million number that you presented just there is consistent with what we found out. I mean, 3 million is basically half of Toronto. That's a lot of people, and it's a lot of people eating less, eating differently. The issue, of course, is impulse. The one thing that people may not know is that the food industry really relies on impulsive behaviors. We eat on impulse, we buy on impulse. Can you imagine a rational consumer times 3 million? And that number is likely to go up. We have generics now that are available. Two of them have been approved. Several others are pending. And that is likely to make the medication much more accessible. So we are expecting that 3 million to perhaps reach 5 million within the next five years. So that change is really significant.

It's been interesting because, of course, the public discourse around GLP-1 has always been around how it affects you, your body. So the medical field was very interested in knowing more about the GLP-1 phenomena. As food economists in the food sector, obviously, we were more focused on how that phenomenon is impacting our food economy. And back in 2024, two years ago already, we were hearing rumblings and we actually had private meetings. We actually did publish our first report, and we did get phone calls from major major companies, CPG companies that are in Canada wanting to know more about what is going on, because they're probably seeing in their own numbers, top line and bottom line. I think they are seeing some changes there. We've seen companies like Nestle launching a GLP-1 friendly line of products. We're seeing chains also adapting as well. Shake Shack is the most recent one with a GLP-1 menu. And so you can see that it is really profoundly changing how the food industry is designing their own R&D agenda, basically.

I want to know why is everyone talking about protein?

That is a great question. There are a number of reasons. You know, one thing to say is that our obsession with protein actually goes back to the 19th century, when it was first identified as a category of nutrition and the first protein booster, if not influencer, was a 19th century German scientist by the name of Baron von Liebig, who invented the first protein supplement. So there is a long history, but there's also a shorter history because some of us, if we're old enough to remember, will remember that carbs were the charismatic nutrient of the 1970s and then during the 80s and 90s, we slowly saw a shift towards protein as the fixation. And that's really intensified in the last ten or so years. And it comes from a number of places. I mean, one is the industry. We tell the story. And in our book about the excess of whey that was created as a result of the industrialization of the dairy industry in the mid 20th century. And farmers needed something to do with all this toxic byproduct of cheese production. And we're dumping it into rivers and streams. And it was killing the algae, and that was choking the fish, that was presenting huge environmental problems. And they figured eventually, after many years of experimentation, a way to dehydrate whey and create a palatable, palatable and digestible product. And that's the protein powder that is most popular today. If you see a protein fortified product on the shelves in the grocery store that almost certainly has whey in it. And so they needed to create a market for that. And elite athletes and bodybuilders were certainly one such market. But that's, that's not enough, right? You have to keep growing and building your market and that's, you know, how we've now seen the protein fixation spread across demographic groups. So I think that's one part of it. And then the other part of it is the association with protein, with strength, with muscle growth, but increasingly with, you know, healthy skin and being full and brain power and menopause, you know, there isn't a problem to which protein hasn't been offered as a solution. And it's very malleable in that way. It doesn't have the same negative connotation that, say, fats or carbs have. There's no such thing really as bad protein where there is or too much protein, right? Where that isn't true of of fats or carbs.

I want to move on to another trend that we're seeing, but very quickly as a society, when it comes to protein, are we actually deficient in protein or are we actually consuming a decent amount already?

Close to 100% of Canadians are eating enough protein according to the official guidelines. So we're getting enough. Protein is in everything from lettuce to potatoes. And if you're getting enough nutrients overall, if you're getting enough calories, you're getting enough protein. The only exceptions to that are people who are seriously ill or frail, who may be required to take additional protein, but they are in the tiny minority of people in Canada. We don't need this protein, this extra protein that we're being encouraged to consume.

I will admit, I myself might be looking at how I can possibly get more fibre in my diet. I might not be quote unquote fibre maxing, but help us understand why do we become so obsessed with food trends?

Yeah, that's it's a, it's a great question. And again, it predates the present moment. And I think it really has to do with the way we are encouraged and taught to think about our bodies, which is that we're responsible for them. No one else is going to save you, right? I mean, we're we have a collapsing health care system. We have corporations who have a real interest in selling products that are have a kind of automatic association with health, even if they're full of sugar and, you know, highly processed foods, there's a veneer of health that's attached to them. So there's, there's a political motivation to ask people to look after themselves. There's a corporate motivation and we're, you know, a good person in our society as a person who tries to optimize the health, right? Not just maintain it, but measure it and, and make it most efficient and productive, right? That's what we're supposed to be doing with our bodies. And these magic bullets that come along are extremely appealing. Right. And, and I think the fibre one is really interesting. I'm being asked a lot about fibre in the last few weeks. I think it's a trend that began on TikTok. And you know, my immediate response, because I too are I'm subject to these trends. None of us can step outside of this ideology as much as we try to. I mean, I'm a professional diet sceptic and I still can't look at my dinner without thinking about the nutrients in it. You know, my my kind of knee-jerk reaction is to say, okay, you know, fibre is that we actually don't get enough fibre. The the research suggests, you know, there are health issues that we're facing as a society that are linked to not enough fibre in our diet. So maybe it's not as problematic as the protein obsession. On the other hand, my research ahead says, you know, again, with searching for this magic bullet, with searching for this quick fix, will lurching from one trend to another. And this is it's not this is not going to save us. There is no single nutrient that is the solution to optimal health.

Historically, diet culture has targeted women. Is that the case with these trends that we're seeing now?

I do think that's one of the really interesting shifts. I mean, certainly with Looksmmaxxing and and just, you know, optimization trends in general, men are huge part of that. One of the things that I've written about is the muscular manosphere and, and the absolute centrality of protein and other supplement sales to the economy of the, of the manosphere, to the, the, the, the, the way that influences male influences, touting certain kinds of masculinity are able to do what they do, are able to make a living from that. So that's really shifted. And I think the, you know, the kind of really critical relationship to the body that women have been taught to take up for decades and centuries is intensifying for men. And we can see this in the research and we can see it probably in our in our everyday lives, too, that now the focus, the particular goals of the diet might be different. The particular rationale for focusing on one particular way of eating versus another could be gendered. It's certainly, you know, related to age and to some extent, food cultures. But that's also one of the the damaging things I think about these trends is that they, they're global, right? And they kind of override the, the beautiful differences in diet that makes the world an interesting and pleasurable place to, to live in.

So, you know, Michael Pollan, who's a famous writer and food critic, says has a has a nice saying, which is, you know, eat food. Not too much, mostly plants. And I think that, you know, as much as it's really hard as one individual person to resist these trends, I really like that mantra. We know that most of us are getting the food that we need, and at the same time that we see this absolute fixation on the components that make up our diet, you know, this treating the body as a biochemical experiment or a motor car to be tinkered with. We also see a lot of pleasure in cooking and procuring food and eating and, and communicating about it and building relationships through it. And I think the more that we can focus on that and celebrate that approach, the easier it will be to move away from this really reductive and I think, damaging approach.