Why obesity drugs alone will not fix unhealthy food environments

When Walmart noticed that some customers using the new weight-loss drugs (known as GLP-1 medicines) were buying less food, it sounded like a small retail story. But it pointed to something much bigger. These GLP-1 products, such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound, are changing appetite and food baskets. And they may soon change the strategies of the global food industry.

GLP-1 drugs may help some people eat less, change their food preferences, and lose weight. But can they change the food systems that made unhealthy diets so easy to adopt in the first place? Can they stop ultra-processed foods from being cheap, visible, convenient and heavily marketed? Can they fix unhealthy food environments: the everyday surroundings that shape what we eat, the shops and stalls around us, the food products we access, the prices we face, the adverts we see?