The food industry considers GLP-1s

Ruth’s reporter’s notebook: This week, I was down in Washington, D.C. for the 2026 Food Is Medicine Conference, where lawmakers, health systems, clinicians, and researchers converged to discuss how healthy food can be better incorporated into medical treatment and what policies can support that. 

More clinicians, policy experts, and patients are embracing the idea that food should be more integrated into patient care. There is also a growing support for policies that limit the production of ultraprocessed foods, which have been shown to negatively impact human health.

The big takeaway: Federal and state policies may conflict with broader efforts to make healthy food a component of patient care.

Americans have a growing awareness about ultra processed foods. More than half of Americans have heard about ultra-processed foods, according to a February survey from the American Journal of Public Health, but fewer are confident about what they are.

AJPH has published several pieces of research this year highlighting the harms of consuming ultraprocessed foods, including:
● Increased risk of diabetes, cancer, obesity, and all-cause mortality.
● Higher body mass index, blood sugar, and blood pressure
● Greater risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults

The discussion around ultraprocessed foods, prompted in part by the Make America Healthy Again movement, comes as a growing number of states are putting restrictions on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, so that recipients can’t use government funding for sodas and ultra-processed foods. However, some states that have adopted nutrition-focused restrictions on SNAP are not providing other ways for impoverished Americans to afford healthy food. Missouri, for example, has embraced SNAP restrictions, but is reducing funds that help lower-income residents afford fresh produce.

At the federal level, both Democrats and Republicans are enthusiastic about testing insurance coverage of nutrition plans prescribed by doctors. At FIMCON, Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kans.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) all expressed support for a bill that would pilot home-delivered medically tailored meals for Medicare patients.

Medically tailored meals have been shown to improve health outcomes for patients and reduce costs and more health systems are embracing them. Some health systems, like Geisinger in Pennsylvania, have gone farther, building food pharmacies where patients can pick up food for diets tailored by their doctor.

But food as medicine needs more research, funding, and a deeper understanding of why patients fall-off these programs.

Interesting market dynamic: The rise of GLP-1s is apparently causing food manufacturers to rethink their commercial food strategies: “If your model is based on impulse and indulgence, you really need to review it,” said Maha Tahiri, a food consultant who has held leadership roles at General Mills, Danone and Coca-Cola.

Food companies are considering how they can be supportive of GLP-1 users with news food products that are healthier. Ag Funder News points writes that increasingly, they’re thinking about consumers as patients—- a slightly different bangle on the food as medicine trend.