Slimming medications linked to £418 fall in household grocery spending
Supermarkets are adapting to the low appetite economy as households with someone on slimming medication spend about £418 less a year on groceries.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Slimming medications such as Mounjaro and Wegovy are being linked to a fall in household grocery spending, as supermarkets adapt to what has been called the low appetite economy.
Estimates put the average saving at about £400 a year for households where at least one person is on any sort of slimming medication. A more precise figure put the saving at £418 a year, and the total fall in grocery spending at £780m. About 8.25 million people in the UK have either taken or are considering appetite-suppressing medications.
Tesco's boss said the growing use of these drugs is part of a wider shift by customers towards healthier options. He said that when the person taking the drugs is the main shopper, it affects the whole household's food basket, because they tend to buy less of the discretionary products such as crisps, snacks and chocolate.
One shopper, care worker and part-time singer Rhiannon Stone, has been on slimming jabs for almost two years. Her weekly shop changed from frozen pizzas and frozen chips to fresh produce and fresh meats. She said the change was almost instant after she started the medication, because her hunger fell and she no longer felt the need to buy those foods.
Supermarkets have responded with smaller portions and with ready meals higher in protein and fibre. Some of these specialist meals cost more than standard ready meals. Dietician Priya Chu said some may be worth the premium, but others are not. She suggested a standard ready meal could work if the portion is halved and green leafy vegetables are added.
She also warned that people on these medications can lose out on nutrients because their normal hunger signals are reduced. Her advice was to stick to regular meals, include protein at every meal and eat fibre.
The shift is reshaping both waistlines and shopping baskets. Supermarkets are losing up to £780m a year in grocery spending, but they also have a chance to sell specialist products to customers who are eating less.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Around 8.25 million people in the UK are estimated to have used or be considering appetite-suppressant medications such as Mounjaro and Wegovy. | |
| Households with at least one person taking appetite-suppressant medication spend an average of £418 less annually on food, equivalent to a £780 million fall in grocery spending. | |
| Supermarkets are developing meals with smaller portions and higher protein and fibre for customers with reduced appetites. | |
| Tesco's boss attributed growing use of slimming medication to a wider customer shift towards healthier options. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The lunchtime broadcast framed the story around the low appetite economy and practical consumer choices. It used a live dietician segment to test whether specialist smaller meals are worth their premium price, while also giving nutrition advice for people on the drugs. It included the wider £780m fall in grocery spending and noted that slimming medications were already known to affect restaurant profits.
- “it's estimated households are spending £400 less per year on average on food shopping if at least one member of the family is on any sort of slimming medication.”
- “not only are these slimming medications resizing people's waistlines they're also resizing their shopping baskets.”
- “I used to buy you know frozen pizzas frozen chips frozen this frozen that and now it's quite a lot of fresh produce and fresh meats.”
The evening broadcast gave the story a more packaged retail and household-spending angle. It led with Tesco's boss, the scale of supermarket losses and the idea of a small appetite economy, with stronger emphasis on mini meals and how one person's medication can change the whole household food basket. The dietician warning about premium-priced specialist meals remained, but there was less live questioning than at lunchtime.
- “It is the era of the mini meal with shrinking portion sizes, along with higher fibre and higher protein as supermarkets scramble to appeal to those with less of an appetite.”
- “When you have one person taking the drugs in a household, if that person is the person that does the main shop, it does impact the food basket for the whole household because they seem to be buying less of the discretionary products like crisps and snacks and chocolate.”
- “Supermarkets are losing up to 780 million pounds a year.”
Broadcast Timeline
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