
AMSTERDAM - This investigative project explores how Big Food and pharmaceutical companies profit from both the causes and "solutions" to obesity. Research by The Investigative Desk for Follow the Money shows that Big Food not only promotes unhealthy eating habits, but also invests in products that are marketed as solutions to diet-related conditions.
Five of the top ten manufacturers of ultra-processed foods in Europe are profiting from products targeting obesity, such as Nestlé subsidiary BodyMed's meal replacements, Danone's medical foods for diabetics and Unilever-backed Lemme's belly-fat-burning gums.
Building on these findings, new research reveals how these companies are increasingly targeting users of diabetes and obesity drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. An analysis of annual reports, shareholder meeting transcripts and recent investments reveals how some food giants are positioning themselves to profit from this emerging market. This cross-border team of investigative journalists compiled several spreadsheets cataloguing all the supplements and health products in which these food companies have invested, as well as their links to GLP-1 drugs, and identified more than fifty products marketed to people seeking weight loss through these drugs.
The industry's strategy appears to be to promote a new dietary model that alternates between consuming ultra-processed foods, using weight-loss drugs and following industry-designed diets.
Photo Credit: Sophie Smeets | Follow The Money
ONLINE
- Obesity as a business model: the food industry's double agenda, Follow the Money, 29/08/2024 (Background article)
- Quand les géants de la malbouffe financent nos médicaments, Reporter, 29/01/2025
- Met 6 trucs (en slimme marketing) profiteert de voedingsindustrie van de Ozempic-hype, Follow the Money, 31/01/2025
More to come...
COUNTRIES
- Switzerland
- France
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Netherlands
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