Can foods match GLP-1 drugs for satiety overview
- GLP-1 weight loss drugs rapidly growing with about 12% US use
- Protein and fibre rich foods increase fullness by stimulating satiety hormones
- Foods trigger GLP-1 PYY and reduce ghrelin but effects modest
- Drugs deliver far higher GLP-1 levels directly affecting brain reward pathways
- Satiety foods serve as practical companions not substitutes for GLP-1 therapies
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have seen radical expansion in popularity in recent years. In the US, a predicted 12% of consumers are on the drugs, according to Dutch bank ING. Elsewhere, uptake is lower, but growing all the time.
Many believe that the drugs will radically alter the way human beings relate to food. It could be seen as similar to medicine; something to ingest rather than something to enjoy.
Still, not everyone wants to inject themselves to lose weight. Some start-ups are aiming to create a similar effect to the drugs through food, aiming to boost satiety (fullness) through carefully chosen ingredients.
But can foods do a similar job to the drugs?
Can foods release GLP-1?
GLP-1 is a hormone that the body produces endogenously (by itself). Some foods have a greater impact on this than others.
Many foods can help one feel full, including meat, fish, cheese, dark chocolate, beans, tofu and chickpeas.
In terms of nutrients, it’s protein and dietary fibre that have the biggest effect on satiety. Indeed, consumers are already seeing satiety as a reason to consume protein.
When food enters the stomach, it suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin, explains Arne Astrup, associate editor at the American Society of Nutrition.
Yet satiety is brought about by the triggering of hormones such as GLP-1 and PYY. Other hormones, such as CCK and leptin, also play a role in satiety, as do sugar and amino acids in the bloodstream.
Can foods match GLP-1 drugs for satiety-boosting?
The short answer is no. Despite the satiety-boosting effects of some foods, they cannot match the impact of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs physiologically.
Low physiological levels of the hormone GLP-1 “have little effect on appetite or body weight – it is the much higher levels achieved with the drugs that start to reduce appetite and hunger,“ explains Daniel Drucker, endocrinologist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, a medical research institute.
Activation of GLP-1 receptors is much more powerful with the drugs, which have much more direct access to brain receptors, adds John Wilding, endocrinologist at the University of Liverpool. GLP-1 drugs have been chemically modified to last longer as well.
GLP-1 drugs reduce the reward of eating by activating GLP-1 receptors, reducing the amount of dopamine released when food is consumed. They also increase the release of appetite-suppressing peptides and decrease the release of appetite-stimulating peptides. Finally, they increase the brain’s response to leptin, a hormone that signals satiety, and reduce leptin resistance.
Both Wilding and Drucker express scepticism that foods could ever match the effectiveness of GLP-1s to boost satiety.
Despite some hopes that food can produce a similar effect to GLP-1s from some quarters, the impact that the drugs have on satiety is currently unreachable by food alone.
What is the purpose of GLP-1 foods?
The big question is, why would food makers want foods that can play a satiety-boosting role, if such foods can never truly replicate GLP-1 drugs?
Satiety-boosting foods can slot into a consumer’s diet far more easily than injections or even pills; even if their affect isn’t as strong, they are more practical.
“Food products should not be evaluated in the same way as prescription GLP-1 drugs, which act pharmacologically and are designed for medical use,” stresses Shay Hilel, co-founder and CEO of food start-up Lembas.
The company, which takes its name from the satiety-boosting Elven bread in The Lord of the Rings, produces food that is designed to increase feelings of fullness in consumers.
Yet the company’s product cannot substitute GLP-1 drugs, but is instead a ‘companion,’ and can play a practical, rather than pharmacological, role in satiety.
“The benefit is daily usability: satiety-supporting foods can fit into familiar formats like gummies, beverages, bars and shakes, making them easier to integrate into long-term routines. Lembas sees this as a companion layer for the GLP-1 era – supporting satiety, metabolic wellness, and long-term nutrition habits before, alongside, or after medical interventions.”
So while foods will likely never play the same satiety-boosting role of GLP-1 drugs, they can complement them, slotting into consumers’ diets more easily.
