Rebecca Harries, research director at Flume, chairing a panel discussion, said GLPs are an emotive subject for people. She raised the issue of ‘food noise’ – repetitive or persistent thoughts about food – quietening of which is associated with weight-loss injections. “We’re seeing a whole cohort of people who are experiencing a whole new swathe of emotions and feelings associated with food.”

Ethnographer and visual anthropologist Joe Bonnell said: “This isn’t a trend like other food trends have been. This is working on a biological level and changing people’s sensory experiences. We see people almost using GLPs like they’re using supplements. Slowing down and building ethnographic relationships with people will help us understand more.”

Discussing the implications of this new relationship that users of GLP-1 medications now have with food, Bonnell said: “One [area of focus for researchers] is how can we understand people’s sensorial and embodied knowledge and how that has been impacted by the availability and use of these medicines. There are conversations around what is the difference between food noise and hunger, and are we pathologising hunger?

Bonnell said his research had heard from people feeling full for the first time in their life or experiencing nausea as a result of taking these medicines. “One participant told us she had to go into a fast-food restaurant with her family while she was taking these and all she wanted to do was be sick. If you are a fast-food restaurant and 3.5 million people are feeling sick when they walk in, that undoes stuff you’ve been trying to do for years.”

Samworth Brothers started thinking about GLP-1s a couple of years ago, according to group insight director Katherine Hardwick, who said that there were opportunities for marketers to understand the change in people’s identities as a result of taking the medications.

Consumer closeness work the company has done with GLP users found that “so much of people’s identity is tied up in the food that they eat and the food that they provide for their families,” said Hardwick. “What exists when you stop being ‘a feeder’? I think we’re seeing quite a big transition for people in terms of how they view themselves and how their families view them.”

Discussing retailers’ responses to the medications, Hardwick said: “Not everyone who is on GLP-1s is on GLP-1s for the same reasons. In our work we found there were stark differences between people who are on them for medical reasons versus cosmetic reasons. The people who are on it for NHS reasons are more likely to be out and proud about the fact that they are doing something really positive for their future health.”

Hardwick added that the company’s research found that supermarket ranges that specifically refer to GLP-1s are more likely to resonate with those GLP-1 users who are using the drugs for medical reasons.

However, she added: “The much bigger market, the 90% of users who are using them for cosmetic reasons, are more likely to be secretive about their usage and don’t necessarily want to pick up something in the supermarket that’s got GLP-1 splashed all over it. Their families might not even know they’re taking it.”