Do GLP-1 users like artificial sweeteners?

GLP-1 sweetener preferences: overview

• GLP-1 drugs alter sweetness perception, research suggests
• Users may detect bitter off-notes in sweeteners more sensitively than others
• Research suggests GLP-1 consumers often prefer sugar over artificial sweeteners
• Preference driven by desire for natural ingredients rather than taste changes alone
• Overall product experience including texture and aroma outweighs sweetness preference

GLP-1 drugs have been found to have a significant impact on perceptions of sweetness.

While some research suggests that GLP-1 users experience dulled taste perceptions compared with the general population, other data, such as that collected by market research company MMR Research, suggests that the drugs enhance them.

One place where much of the research converges is the importance of sweetness. How consumers perceive sweetness is significantly impacted by GLP-1 drugs.

But does the kind of sweetness matter? How do consumers experience sweetness from artificial sweeteners compared with sugar? And do users like artificial sweeteners?

How do GLP-1 users perceive sweeteners compared with sugar?

Sensory research on how GLP-1 users taste suggests that the drugs can change how they perceive both sweetness and bitterness, explains Amy Benjamin, product experience innovation director at Huxly, an MMR company.

MMR has not conducted research directly comparing how GLP-1 users experience artificial sweeteners compared with sugar. However, research into how users perceive sweetness and bitterness may provide an insight into how they experience artificial sweeteners, Benjamin suggests.

Unlike sugar, artificial sweeteners tend to contain both sweetness and subtle, bitter ‘off-note’ flavours that are not present in sugar.

MMR’s sensory research observed that GLP-1 users were often more sensitive to such artificial notes. This means that sweeteners may be more noticeable to these consumers than people not using GLP-1s, suggests Benjamin.

Do GLP-1 users like artificial sweeteners?

GLP-1 users tend to prefer sugar over artificial sweeteners, according to MMR’s research.

However, this is not related to a change in taste perception, but to consumer preferences. GLP-1 consumers are shifting towards preferring more ‘natural’ ingredients, often rejecting artificiality.

“As people become more educated about nutrition and more conscious of what their bodies need, they start looking for foods made with what they perceive as more natural, whole ingredients,” says Huxly’s Benjamin. “Because appetite is often reduced, many users become highly selective about what they consume.”

Consumers looking for sweet tastes therefore want to eat something they consider ‘worthwhile’, which is often sugar rather than sweeteners. When consumers have limited appetites, many feel that choosing something ‘artificial’ is not the best use for them.

Benjamin suggests that manufacturers should “rethink” how they use artificial sweeteners in their products, and that the era of masking reformulation with artificial sweeteners may be coming under pressure.

“For GLP-1 users, it’s not just about sweetness intensity; it’s about the quality and cleanliness of that sweetness. Products designed with this consumer in mind will need more calibrated, cleaner formulations, not simply less sugar replaced with more sweetener.”

How important is sweetness?

The importance of sweetness as a factor may be overestimated. “Preference appears to be driven by the overall product experience rather than by a single ingredient,” says Nathalie de Clercq, director of R&D application for health and nutrition at ingredients company Cargill.

Texture, mouthfeel, aroma and appearance all play a role in how the consumer sees a product, she suggests. Therefore, “evaluating sweeteners in isolation may not provide a complete picture of consumer preference”.

Overall, little is yet conclusive about how GLP-1 users perceive artificial sweeteners. However, many users show a disinclination towards artificiality, prioritising ‘natural’ ingredients and foods that they perceive as ‘worthwhile’.