The surging demand for weight-control drugs, prominently Ozempic, is not only aiding countless individuals in shedding excess pounds but is also noticeably tempering growth projections for the packaged-food sector.
Originally developed to manage Type 2 diabetes, many now regard them as a miraculous solution for weight loss, actively seeking insights from their health-care providers. The demand for these drugs, fueled in part by millions of TikTok viewers, has resulted in shortages. According to data from Statistics Canada, in 2021 about 29 per cent of Canadians 18 and older were categorized as obese, with an additional 36 per cent falling into the overweight category. While the prevalence of overweight adults remained relatively stable between 2015 and 2020, there was a notable increase of about three percentage points in the prevalence of obese adults during the same period.
This leads us to question whether the profitability of the food and snack industry is fundamentally intertwined with a consumer base grappling with excess weight. It inevitably raises ethical and moral concerns.