We knew that drugs like Ozempic either wegovy They were changing the scales of thousands of people around the world without having to undergo surgery, but what we were not so clear about was how they were doing. transforming the shopping cart. Something that fully affects the domestic economy and a change in habits that is undoubtedly the final objective of these medications.
A new study. Made in Denmark and published in JAMA Network Open has put figures to a phenomenon that market analysts had been sensing for some time: these medications they not only reduce appetitebut they structurally modify what we buy, how much we spend and what sections of the supermarket we visit.
His method. Until now, much of what we knew about the diet of GLP-1 users came from what they themselves reported in surveys. The problem is that sometimes humans lie or even our memory fails to remember what we really eat on a daily basis.
To avoid this bias, a team led by Kathrine Kold Sørensen, from Copenhagen University Hospital, decided to go to the source of truth more objective: purchase receipts.
The result. The study analyzed more than 2 million transactions from 1,177 Danish participants. By comparing receipts before and after starting treatment (between 2019 and 2022), the researchers detected an obvious change in pattern. The highlight without a doubt was the reduction in the purchase of ultra-processed foods, which fell from 39.2% to 38%. And although it may seem like little, in the control group without the drug, consumption increased.
Reducing ultra-processed foods meant that the basket was filled with real food, which increased from 46.9% to 47.8%. This was combined with fewer calories being purchased per 100 grams by reducing sugar, saturated fat and carbohydrates. On the other hand, proteins began to increase.
A hit to the pocket. If the Danish study focuses on nutritional quality, other recent reports focus on the economic impact. A Cornell University study published in December 2025, based on data from Numeratorreveals that the impact on spending is immediate. In the United States specifically, households with patients taking Ozempic reduced spending in supermarkets by approximately 5.5%.
If we break down this reduction, spending on salty snacks, sweets, industrial pastries and cookies plummeted between 10 and 11%. On the other hand, there was a slight increase in the purchase of yogurts, fresh fruit and protein bars.
Why doesn’t it happen? The key is not just willpower. Spanish experts such as Cristóbal Morales and Joana Nicolau, cited by the Science Media Center Spain, they explain that the mechanism is physiological, since the drugs act on the brain’s reward system.
In preclinical studies in animals they already showed that, under the effects of GLP-1, rats lost their usual preferences for foods that are rich in fats and sugars. In humans, this means that the impulse to buy, to buy that bag of chips or that soda, simply disappears or is drastically attenuated.
The small print. Not everything is good news regarding these drugs, since, as has been repeated on different occasions when treatment is abandonedpurchasing patterns partially revert to the previous ones. That is why the change in habit seems to be “rented” to the duration of the pharmacological treatment.
Additionally, the study has limitations inherent to the observational design, as it does not test direct chance and there is potential “selection bias.” And people willing to share their purchase receipts and start these treatments are usually more motivated by initial health or receiving parallel nutritional advice.
Images | Haberdoedas Ishaq Robin
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings