Supplement Industry The company has a long and complicated history with the world of weight-loss products. Before Ozempic, many fad diet aids like green tea extract, caffeine pills, and ephedra were supplements, not prescription drugs. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 15% of adult Americans have tried a weight-loss supplement. Now the supplement industry is riding the GLP-1 craze. It can’t sell Ozempic, but it’s still built an entire business around the existing demand for the blockbuster drug, or drugs like it, and it’s doing great.
Two types of supplements are jumping on the popularity of GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide and tirzepatide, which mimic a natural appetite-suppressing, blood sugar-regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1. (Ozempic is one of the best-known brand names for semaglutide.) First, take a supplement. Complementary Switching to GLP-1 Medications. Online stores of major supplement retailers like The Vitamin Shoppe and GNC have dedicated sections to selling products to be used in conjunction with prescription medications. “Are you experiencing GLP-1 side effects? Get treatment support,” GNC’s website proclaims. The Vitamin Shoppe offers actual GLP-1 medications through a partnership to create a telehealth company, as well as traditional supplements like probiotics, fiber, and multivitamins that it markets as “nutritional support.”
Brian Tanzer, director of scientific and regulatory affairs at The Vitamin Shoppe, says the company offers products that address nutritional deficiencies that can occur when people taking GLP-1 drugs cut back on calories. “Current data shows that a significant proportion of the population does not meet their daily requirements for several nutrients, and this situation may be exacerbated by the significant reduction in calorie intake that results from the use of GLP-1 drugs,” he says.
Food and supplement giant Nestle is also getting in on the action. In addition to launching a food line specifically for people taking GLP-1 drugs, the company has launched a website, GLP-1nutrition.com, to sell a range of supplements that “complement the GLP-1 journey.” “We’re the first big food company to get into this space,” Dana Stambaugh, Nestle’s head of external communications, told WIRED in an email. Meanwhile, meal delivery services are also starting to court GLP-1 patients. Daily Harvest offers a “GLP-1 Support” meal kit designed for people taking these medications. A smaller service called Bistro MD sells a similar product.
Although GLP-1 drugs are incredibly effective, they often cause side effects, including gastrointestinal upset and muscle loss. Severe side effects can lead some people to stop taking the medication. A recent study from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association found that more than half of people surveyed who were prescribed these drugs in the past 10 years stopped taking them within three months.
Obesity medicine physician Alexandra Sowa recently launched a line of supplements aimed at people taking GLP-1 drugs. “I’ve been putting together what I can find on the market to meet my patients’ needs,” she says. “There’s nothing made specifically for GLP-1 users.” Sowa, who runs a Manhattan-based practice, says her goal is to help patients stay comfortable taking their medication by reducing side effects. Her system sells three types of powdered supplements (electrolytes, protein, and fiber) that can be purchased together or separately. These are designed to appeal to the taste buds of people taking GLP-1 drugs who may not tolerate sweet products as well as they used to.
Another type of supplement similar to Ozempic that is currently on the rise is positioned as a replacement, rather than a supplement, to pharmaceuticals. These products often have “GLP-1” in their names, signaling to potential customers familiar with prescription medications that they are offering something of the same world. The brand Supergut promotes its prebiotics as “nature’s Ozempic” in its marketing, claiming that its product “naturally stimulates the hunger-suppressing GLP-1 hormone in the body.” Supplement brand Pendulum offers a “GLP-1 probiotic,” which also claims to help “naturally” increase GLP-1 production. Other lines, such as Codeage, offer blends such as “GLP Advantage+,” which contains L-taurine, decaffeinated green tea leaf extract, boron, prebiotics, and a variety of other ingredients, including berberine. Berberine is popular with wellness influencers on TikTok, who tout its appetite-suppressing properties. When asked if Codeage intended the product as an alternative to GLP-1 drugs for people who don’t want to take prescription medications, co-founder Auggie Quancard said the product was “designed for people interested in supporting their metabolic health.” (Codeage also offers a product meant to be taken in conjunction with GLP-1 drugs.)
