Appetite-suppressing medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are best known for helping people lose weight. But new research suggests their influence goes well beyond the bathroom scale.
A large study from Cornell University finds that when people begin taking GLP-1 medications, they also change what they buy to eat and how much they spend on food overall.
The study, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, analyzed detailed grocery and restaurant transaction data from tens of thousands of U.S. households. Researchers paired those records with survey data showing when household members started using GLP-1 drugs and how long they continued taking them. That approach allowed the team to compare households using the medications with similar households that were not, helping isolate changes that followed adoption.
Within six months of starting a GLP-1 medication, households reduced grocery spending by an average of 5.3%. Among higher-income households, the decline was larger, at more than 8%. Spending at fast-food restaurants, coffee shops and other limited-service eateries dropped by about 8%.
For households that continued using the medication, lower food spending persisted for at least a year, although the size of the reduction gradually became smaller over time. After people stopped taking the drugs, spending patterns began to drift back toward pre-medication levels.
Unlike many earlier studies that relied on people recalling what they ate, this analysis used real-world purchase data collected by a market research firm that tracks grocery and restaurant transactions nationwide. While purchases are not the same as consumption, they offer a clearer picture of everyday food behavior than self-reported diets alone.
The reductions were not evenly distributed across the grocery store. Ultraprocessed, calorie-dense foods saw the sharpest declines. Spending on savory snacks fell by about 10%, with similarly large reductions for sweets, baked goods and cookies. Purchases of some staple foods, including bread, meat and eggs, also declined.
Only a small number of categories increased. Yogurt showed the largest rise, followed by fresh fruit, nutrition bars and meat snacks. Overall, the dominant pattern was a broad reduction in food purchases rather than a dramatic shift from one type of food to another.
These findings suggest that GLP-1 medications may influence eating behavior primarily by dampening appetite and cravings, not by steering people toward specific “healthier” foods. When hunger signals are quieter, people appear to buy less food overall, snack less often and eat out less frequently, without consciously trying to change their diets.
The study does not show that GLP-1 drugs improve diet quality, and it cannot prove that the medications directly cause these changes. The research is observational, and household purchase data cannot perfectly capture what individual people eat. Still, it offers one of the clearest real-world looks so far at how biologically driven appetite changes show up in everyday food decisions.
Beyond individual behavior, the findings also point to broader ripple effects. As GLP-1 use becomes more common, food manufacturers, restaurants and retailers may face long-term shifts in demand, particularly for snack foods and fast food. For public health researchers, the results add context to debates about whether medical treatments that alter appetite can succeed where traditional approaches like food labeling or taxes have struggled.
Taken together, the study reinforces a central lesson from nutrition science: eating behavior is shaped as much by biology as by choice. When appetite changes, the food environment people create around themselves often changes with it, starting at the grocery cart.
No industry funding was disclosed in the available materials.