08/19/2024

Supplements Companies are Cashing in on the Ozempic Wave

With sky-high demand for the drugs, the supplement industry is engaging

The supplement industry has a long, tangled history with the world of weight-loss products.

Prior to the age of Ozempic, many of the trendiest diet aids were supplements, not prescription medications: green tea extract, caffeine pills, ephedra. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 15 percent of adult Americans have tried a weight-loss supplement. Now, the supplement industry is leaning into the GLP-1 boom. They can't sell Ozempic—but they're hitching a hefty wagon to it anyway, spinning up entire businesses built around existing demand for this blockbuster drug, or something like it.

Two different types of supplements are glomming onto the popularity of GLP-1 agonist drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide, which mimic a natural appetite-suppressing, blood-sugar-regulating hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1. (Ozempic is one of the most well-known brand names for semaglutide.) First, there's a rise in efforts to market supplements as complementary to GLP-1 drugs. The online storefronts for large supplement retailers like the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC now offer separate sections devoted to selling products to take in tandem with prescription meds. “GLP-1 Side Effects? Get Support for Your Journey,” the GNC website proclaims. The Vitamin Shoppe offers actual GLP-1 drugs through a partnership to launch a telehealth company, as well as more traditional supplements it markets as “nutrient support,” including probiotics, fiber and multivitamins.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.