How Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic Are Subtly Shifting Spending and the U.S. Economy

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Weight-loss drugs are reshaping the spending habits of those who take them, influencing the broader economy in subtle yet noticeable ways.

New surveys shed light on how popular GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro change how people eat, drink, and shop, even after they stop taking them. A survey by Deutsche Bank found people taking the drugs went to restaurants and ordered out half as often as they did before, while spending slightly more at each visit.1

A separate analysis by market research firm Coresight found 72% of GLP-1 users had dropped at least one clothing size, suggesting an increased need to buy clothes. They are also contributing to the estimated $47 billion in apparel customers send back to online retailers each year because it doesn't fit.

The rise of GLP-1 medications could affect the economy by changing consumer preferences and expenditures, for instance, shifting spending away from restaurants and toward groceries.

"While we're all salivating at the prospect of where AI can go in the years ahead, perhaps the bigger leap in the near term is the technological miracle that is stopping us salivating at all," Jim Reid, global head of macro and thematic strategy at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a commentary. "Maybe GLP-1 is the real short-term general-purpose technology for a wider range of consumers, especially in the U.S."

The new data illuminate the less obvious financial effects of the medications, which nearly 12% of U.S. adults have used at some point, according to a poll last August by Rand.2 They could be even more popular now that the drugs are being released in the form of pills rather than injections.

These changes are minor compared to the cost of medications themselves, which can reach up to $1,000 a month, depending on the brand and whether they are covered by insurance.3

The drugs do save patients money in the long run by preventing costly chronic illnesses such as diabetes. However, the benefit does not outweigh the cost, according to an analysis last year by researchers at the University of Chicago. They found that covering GLP-1s for weight loss through Medicaid would cost about $66 billion but only save $18 billion by preventing other illnesses.4

Economists and other researchers have been studying how the drugs could impact the economy far beyond healthcare. For example, they could save airlines as much as $580 million a year in fuel costs by making passengers lighter, according to an analysis by financial firm Jefferies, reported earlier this year.5

Deutsche Bank's survey of 550 people showed GLP-1 users changed what they bought, in addition to where they ate, buying less chocolate, candy, ice cream, and salty snacks and more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and protein shakes, for example.

The changes to dining out habits mostly stuck even after people quit the medication, according to the poll.

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