GLP-1 interest in Europe overview
- GLP-1 interest is rising rapidly across mainland European markets
- France, Spain and Germany report sharply increasing GLP-1 discussion
- UK conversation grew more slowly, suggesting a more mature market
- Consumer associations vary, spanning weight management, menopause and gut health
- Growing awareness indicates GLP-1s are becoming increasingly mainstream consumers
GLP-1s are resoundingly popular. According to ING Bank, uptake of the weight-loss drugs is around 12% in the US and 2% in Europe.
The lower European figure shows that it’s still early days but use is growing all the time. The advent of the GLP-1 pill could take use even higher and the latest research shows that Europeans are now talking about the drugs more than ever.
The continent is talking
In the past, scepticism has predominated in mainland Europe. Especially in France and Italy, consumers are far more sceptical about the agenda of large, powerful companies than in the US, where GLP-1s are most predominant, says Jonny Forsyth, principal strategist for food and drink at analytics company Mintel.
But now the dam on interest in GLP-1s on the continent seems to have burst: year-on-year growth of conversation about GLP-1s is five-to-six times faster on the mainland than in the UK, explains Miriam Aniel Oved, senior consumer trends analyst at AI analytics platform Tastewise.
In Germany, interest has grown by 120%, in Spain by 137% and in France by 151%, according to Tastewise data. This is in sharp contrast to the UK, where conversation has only grown by 26%.
“Whatever [coverage about GLP-1s] is doing to sentiment, it’s landing inside a conversation that’s still accelerating in mainland Europe, while the UK – which had this conversation first – has already matured,” says Tastewise’s Oved.
Yet while this growth is seen across countries, not everyone sees GLP-1s in the same way.
What do consumers associate with GLP-1s?
The way consumers view these drugs is diverging. The associations that consumers make with these drugs differ between countries, although it is unclear from the data whether these associations are positive or negative, Oved explains.
In France, for example, consumers associate the drugs with a range of topics. Weight control is still the benefit most strongly linked to GLP-1s – about 13% of the GLP-1 conversation, according to Tastewise – but other things are also being increasingly linked to the drugs.
For example, association of GLP-1s with calm has grown by 67%, menopause by 54%, women’s health by 31% and blood sugar by 25%. While as a share of overall GLP-1-related conversation they all remain at 2% or under, they’ve grown significantly in relation to a year ago.
Spain, meanwhile, despite showing growing interest in GLP-1s, is associating them less and less with additional factors.
Conversations around GLP-1s and weight management are down by 17% year-on-year, GLP-1s and gut health down 40% and GLP-1s and mental health down 42%. Only associations with fitness have grown, and only by 22%.
“One reading – and this is interpretation – is that Spanish consumers are shifting from discussing GLP-1 as a health intervention toward treating it as an ordinary weight-loss route,” says Oved. “That’s a normalisation signal more than a safety one.”
Meanwhile, in Germany and the UK, people are discussing GLP-1s in relation to gut health, as well as how to manage nausea.
Conversation around GLP-1s is growing. Even in countries where interest was previously low, such as Spain, their presence appears to be inevitable. Yet what consumers associate with them appears to diverge sharply.
