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Ozempic Is Making People Buy Less Food, Walmart Says
- borissk 3y agohttps://archive.is/O0zr5 https://archive.is/O0zr5 Anyone here taking Ozempic? Care to share your experience?
- homero 3y agoI need it as an actual diabetic but it's hard to get
- brucificus 3y agoWhen the supply is steady... yes, I bought waaaaay less food.
- ThaFresh 3y agoGiven how much less junk food you eat, it's very cost effective
- simplyskeptic 3y agoI don't take it but my wife does. I saw a reduction in our spending almost immediately because she's bringing home less from the grocery store and no longer interested in eating out. I've saving money even after our out of pocket costs (insurance covers none of this for us) and I have a happier wife.
- kjs3 3y agoNot Ozempic, but same class drug. I am extremely lucky to have zero side effects, not everyone does, so understand what you could be in for. My experience isn't your experience. TANSTAAFL. That said...pre-diabetic symptoms (genetic predisposition included) gone based on blood sugar readings. Lost a life-changing amount of weight over several months (i.e. it's not a 'loose 20 lbs in a week' weight loss drug unless you're using it in an very unhealthy way). Subjectively, cravings heavily reduced. Doc says blood work going in the right direction. So I can say cautiously it's a net win.
- AviationAtom 3y agoWife was taking Wegovy. In the same class but specifically meant for weight-loss. She felt sick most the time on it, but it does work.
- phnofive 3y agoTaking compounded tirzepatide ($6000/yr for 15 mg/wk) and lost ~120 lbs. Ironically, sugar tastes a lot stronger, and food generally tastes better, but I don't want as much. Haven't seen any other changes or improvements.
- tiahura 3y agoWait a sec. Didn’t they say this a few months ago and then walk it back?
- paulproteus 3y agoThe article is from October 2023. If you or someone else has a link to a more recent article where they take it back, I would be happy to read it as well!
- afavour 3y agoEver since retail execs blamed their lack of profits on widespread shoplifting then walked that claim back with absolutely zero consequence I’ve worked on the assumption that they say absolutely anything they need to if it boosts short term stockholder gains.
- ents 3y agoIt's somehow Ozempic and not the always rising, already high prices for everything required for daily life?
- ToucanLoucan 3y agoAlso that consumers are increasingly aware of how atrocious the American diet is and want to eat food that's made out of food, not just endlessly processed nutrient-void corn covered in fucking sugar.
- therealdrag0 3y agoIs this speculation or you live seen large shifts in consumer sentiment that coincide with Ozempic?
- bobthepanda 3y agoThey are correlating it with Ozempic purchases according to TFA
- pclmulqdq 3y agoOzempic purchases happen to also be correlated with rising prices, though.
- rgarrett88 3y agoPresumably they're looking at comparable shoppers before and after one starts Ozempic during the same time period. Or are you implying people are starting Ozempic to avoid buying food?
- clipsy 3y agoHow is Walmart obtaining data on when individual people start taking Ozempic? That seems like quite a HIPAA violation.
- bigmattystyles 3y agoThere's an annoying paywall I don't care to ty to get around but the fact that your grocer can correlate you to your drug use is the real worrisome part here.
- sneak 3y agoWalmart runs a pharmacy, and most people use the same payment cards to check out for food and for pharmacy purchases (and also happily offer up loyalty cards and other tracking identifiers). Walmart is also one of the largest users of facial recognition technology. Why would it be surprising or worrisome that the people you buy something from know what you bought from them?
- mortenjorck 3y agoThe degree to which Walmart enthusiastically links things via payment cards has me considering going back to cash when I shop there. The first time I saw a series of in-store purchases unexpectedly show up in my walmart.com account history, I was not particularly happy.
- detourdog 3y agoI think the Apple Card has privacy from stores built-in.
- bhaney 3y ago> one of the largest users of facial recognition technology > Why would it be surprising or worrisome ...Are you serious? An unstoppable megacorp that continues to horizontally expand across a number of markets using some of the most invasive possible surveillance and tracking methods to correlate tons of tons of personal behavioral data of hundreds of millions of normal citizens, and you can't find the slightest thing worrisome about it?
- PierceJoy 3y agoThere’s a difference between them having a record of your purchase and them accessing that record for business analysis reasons. If Walmart operated a medical clinic, would you comfortable with their corporate data scientists accessing your health records?
- cammikebrown 3y agoOzempic is like $800 a month, do the people spending that also go to Walmart?
- dharmab 3y agoYes 1. Health insurance caps the annual price to a few thousand dollars, which is worth the money for most people for the health and social advantages 2. Wealthy suburban families shop at Wal-Mart quite a lot
- thefourthchime 3y agoI'm love Walmart, great prices and return policy. Way less sketchy crap like Amazon has.
- homero 3y agoI wish Walmart didn't ruin their catalog with third party like Amazon did
- pclmulqdq 3y agoMany people who are taking ozempic are not doing it with a prescription. That would not generally be covered by insurance. Edit: I meant off-label, not without a prescription. Same treatment by insurance.
- nwiswell 3y ago... But if you're doing it illegally, you can pay way less money than you would for prescription Ozempic. There is a booming black market for bootleg Chinese Semaglutide (and Tirzepatide, and Retatrutide, and etc)
- fred_is_fred 3y agoCorrect - Every health "spa" in the US sells it for 30% of what the name brand is.
- 3y ago
- bobthepanda 3y ago> An increasing number of CEOs and investors are talking about how popular weight-loss drugs might change the economy and business. Earlier this week, the CEO of the maker of Pringles and Cheez-Its said the company is studying their potential impact on dietary behaviors. “Like everything that potentially impacts our business, we’ll look at it, study it and, if necessary, mitigate,” Steve Cahillane, the CEO of Kellanova, said in an interview. Well that’s just dark.
- hasty_pudding 3y agoI didn't know Pringles and Cheez-Its had Darth Vader running the company.
- throwup238 3y agoWait till you see who is running FUNYUNS. It's death himself.
- EA-3167 3y agoI think past a certain point, all corporate cultures converge on tobacco company ethics.
- dghughes 3y ago"Pringles now with nicotine and menthol!"
- bitwize 3y ago"Now with more MOLECULES!"
- mulmen 3y ago"Mitigate" could mean "make a product that is appealing to health-conscious consumers".
- oofdoof 3y agoIt could. In the same way that when fossil fuel companies found out their business is destroying the planet they could have pivoted into renewables. But they didn’t. With profit being the deciding factor it’s anyone’s guess what the people who are in charge of these companies will do to avoid bankruptcy.
- kumarvvr 3y agoAs of late, I have started to look at the ingredients of many of the foods I consume, here in India, and it deeply saddens me that most consumers stuff themselves with such ultra-processed chemical laden, taste and mind altering foods. I had to struggle a bit, but I have been able to wean off my kid from these foods and started making a lot of them at home. My next target is to get a cold press machine and make the oils used for cooking at home too.
- ttymck 3y agoWhy does it make you sad?
- Torn 3y agobecause ultra processed foods are objectively bad for us?
- kumarvvr 3y agoBecause ultra-processed foods have become a major consumer market and people are taking them in huge quantities. https://badgut.org/information-centre/health-nutrition/ultra-processed-foods/ https://badgut.org/information-centre/health-nutrition/ultra... pop and fruit drinks sweetened yogurt sweet or savoury packaged snacks (e.g., cookies) candies and cake mixes mass-produced packaged breads and buns margarines and spreads breakfast cereals cereal and energy bars energy drinks instant soups, sauces, and noodles poultry and fish nuggets, hot dogs many ready-to-heat products: pre-prepared pies, pasta, and pizza dishes
- COGlory 3y ago>“We definitely do see a slight change compared to the total population, we do see a slight pullback in overall basket,” John Furner, the chief executive officer of Walmart’s sprawling US operation, said in an interview Wednesday. “Just less units, slightly less calories.” This implies they're looking at how people on GLP-1 analogs are behaving relative to the general population....but how do they know who is on the drugs?
- Judgmentality 3y agoWalmart also has a pharmacy. I'm not an expert on the privacy laws here, but I'd be surprised if they couldn't use that information (even if it's a legally grey area).
- electric_mayhem 3y agoYou don’t think Walmart’s pharmacy data can be correlated to the same customer’s shopping habits?
- dymk 3y agoNo, it can’t
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago>debit card ending in 6969 purchased Ozempic at pharmacy >debit card ending in 6969 purchased $200 of food, 5% less than they did last month They don't have to know anything about the specific person to correlate data they likely already have in their POS system.
- dymk 3y agoHIPAA violation
- deadlydose 3y agoNo, I don't think it would be. The last four digits of a CC purchase at a pharmacy won't contain PHI. It will just say "pharmacy." But if you have some data to back that claim up, I'd love to read about it.
- 1-6 3y agoBuy less food but $1000/month for the meds
- AlexandrB 3y agoMaybe I'm overly paranoid, but this article reads like an ad for Ozempic: "It's so good retailers are seeing noticeable fewer food purchases!"
- mc32 3y agoThey should see this as a good thing (which it is). Instead of seeing it as "Oh, noes, people are buying less junk food" they could see it as an opportunity to sell customers on more upscale goods with the cost savings. Instead of junk filled with soy and corn filler they can now buy smaller portions but with genuine ingredients without any fillers. Take it as an opportunity to upsell a healthier lifestyle with tastier ingredients.
- anonreeeeplor 3y agoThis story has 100% of the markers of public relations and a planted story. Take a step back: Do you actually believe this? Really? Really? It just reads like it’s fake. The data is simply not believable. It is designed to get headlines and focus on Ozempic to get people to buy it. This is propaganda. Planted and designed by pharm industry.
- amai 3y agoAnd I thought the reason are the skyrocketing prices due to inflation and greedflation.
- maxglute 3y agoAre the sales of smaller size clothing increasing?
- locopati 3y agoor this is bs like the retail store "crime wave" and people are buying less food because food is more expensive... who's to say?