What should a GLP-1 food range look like and which supermarket is doing it best?

Food retailers appear to have made it a new year resolution to win over weight-loss treatment users.

Five retailers – Co-op, M&S, Asda, Iceland and Ocado – last week announced new ranges claimed to be ‘GLP-1 friendly’ or suited to ‘smaller appetites’. And Morrisons claimed in late December to be the UK’s first supermarket to launch GLP-1 friendly ready meals.

As to what ‘GLP-1 friendly’ means, the approach varies by retailer. Some are in tiny, 250g portions while others are over 500g. Some lean into protein while others are pushing fibre.

So, how helpful is all this? What should a truly useful GLP-1 friendly range look like? And who looks to have done the best job of making one?

There should be no doubt of two things, say nutritionists: the commercial opportunity in supporting the rising number of users of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 drugs, and the importance of doing it correctly.

Around 4.9 million adults in Britain – nearly one in 10 – have already used or are considering weight-loss drugs, says Ali Morpeth, co-founder of the Planeatry Alliance.

The number “will increase as we see the medication go into pill format”, says nutritionist and regulatory expert Claire Baseley.

Because users are “eating much less food overall”, says Morpeth, “nutritional quality is far more important, with a stronger focus needed on nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains, dairy, healthy fats and high-quality protein.” So simply making portions smaller may not cut it.

Read more:

• Morrisons is ‘first’ supermarket to launch GLP-1 ready meals

• Co-op launches own-brand GLP-1 friendly meals in UK convenience first

• Asda jumps on GLP-1 bandwagon with high-protein ‘power pots’

• Iceland Foods expands weight-loss range to cater to GLP-1 users

• M&S launches food range for people on weight-loss jabs

• Ocado launches GLP-1 friendly aisle and 100g steak

Like Ocado’s new portion-controlled 100g steak (£3.50), a halo product among a curated ‘GLP-1 friendly’ range in a new ‘weight management’ aisle, along with M&S’s new Nutrient Dense lines and other high-protein meals under 600 calories.

“That’s just a small steak,” observes Baseley.

It’s “easy” to make a “low-volume, high-protein product” that appears to “align with this trend,” she adds. “Is it going to be of optimum use to GLP-1 users? Probably not, because there are far more broad needs.”

Value perception may also be at risk when a new product can be compared with another that looks similar, only larger.

Morrisons’ 280g ‘GLP-1 friendly’ Small & Balanced meals are among 53 products in a new Applied Nutrition range, also including 400g options costing just £1 more, at £4.75 vs £3.75. It says its Small & Balanced meals deliver “more balanced macronutrient content in small portions”.

On LinkedIn, fmcg consultant and former Tesco and Boots buyer Karen Green wonders: “Could we simply eat less and save more?”

Portioning at a price

But concentrating sufficient nutrients into the right-sized portions “does come at a price”, says Baseley. “The more nutrients in it, the more fibre varieties, the more the costs.”

Co-op and Asda have gone smaller still, with their 250g meals at risk of looking “really small on shelves”.

Meanwhile, Iceland’s Myprotein Creamy Chicken Alfredo is 550g, with 628 calories and 58g of protein.

“I don’t think we currently understand what the right portion size is because it depends on how many calories it’s delivering and how satiating it is, which is a product of its fibre and protein content,” says Baseley.

“But naturally I think you are probably looking toward a smaller portion size.”

Read more:

• The GLP-1 gamble: why supermarkets are selling less for more

• Junk food ad ban and promos rules to be ratcheted up by Wes Streeting

• Ocado to update ‘weight management’ aisle after concerns raised

Asda’s meals shout ‘Protein’ on pack – and unlike other retailers it eschewed specific claims of being ‘GLP-1 friendly’ in its announcement, calling them “great for customers with smaller appetites”. But “simply leveraging protein, which is already present in many products, falls short,” says Baseley.

Asda says its Protein Power Pots are also “low in fat, with at least 80g of fruit/vegetables”. Of four options, three are low in saturated fat and one low in fat.

Ocado also boasts of GLP-1 friendly options “that are low/reduced fat”.

“It is important we don’t forget essential fats”, says Baseley. “Lower in saturates, yes, but essential fats from things like nuts, seeds, oily fish and olive oil are important for heart health and managing inflammation and hormone health.

“The optimal product should deliver holistic nutrient density: low volume, high protein and fibre – including a variety of fibre types – a source of essential fats, and a source of multiple vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium and a variety of B vitamins. In this respect, M&S comes closest to those targets.”

Its Nutrient Dense range consists of 20 salads, snacks and meals, each said to contain at least one of 10 micronutrients such as vitamin D, iron, folate and vitamin B12. They have been developed to make it “super easy for customers to reach the recommended 30g a day” of fibre, says M&S head of food nutrition Grace Ricotti.

“M&S has zeroed in on fibre, which differentiates it from the others”, writes Mintel Food & Drink principal strategist Jonny Forsyth on LinkedIn.

It is also most likely to do well because “its user base are among the minority who can afford to pay for GLP-1 drugs”.

That’s if they spot the products in store – all the retailers appear to have avoided ‘GLP-1 friendly’ claims at point of sale except Morrisons, which has included the phrase on pack.

Baseley believes there are risks in doing so, as it could be interpreted as an unauthorised health claim by Trading Standards.

Morrisons says: “This is not a health claim, this is simply a signpost to help our customers, and we expect labelling in this area to evolve over time.”

But it is indeed looking like a potentially thorny area. This week, Ocado has already agreed to update the name of its weight management aisle after comparisons were drawn with an identically named webpage that landed Holland & Barrett in hot water with the ASA as an unauthorised health claim in 2019. Ocado’s new ‘aisle’ was gone from its site on Thursday.

Obesity Health Alliance executive director Katharine Jenner sees it as a distraction from what’s really important. “Labels and marketing claims matter far less than whether the food stacks up,” she says.