GLP-1 Users Boost Supplement Spend, Glanbia Raises Whey Prices

Italian GLP-1 data signals a supplement spending surge, Italy's €5.4B market faces scrutiny, Richard Laver bets on longevity gummies, and Glanbia warns on whey costs.

Show Notes

Italian pharmacy data shows GLP-1 users are spending more on supplements right now — not after they quit the drugs. Plus, Glanbia is signalling more whey price hikes that will squeeze sports nutrition brands heading into Q1.

In this episode:

• Italian pharmacy data shows GLP-1 drug users are actively increasing their supplement and wellness spending while still on medication, with pharmacy and health retail channels identified as the key commercial touchpoint for European brands to act on now.
• Italy has become Europe's largest supplement market at €5.4 billion, but Il Fatto Alimentare is publicly questioning whether Italian consumers are buying out of genuine need or advertising influence — a reputational risk for the entire category.
• Serial founder Richard Laver, who built Kate Farms and Lucky Energy, is launching a new longevity-focused supplement gummy brand, signalling that experienced health brand builders are making deliberate, high-conviction bets on the longevity segment.
• Glanbia has confirmed it will steer toward further whey protein price increases as input costs remain elevated, with pricing uncertainty expected to persist into Q1 and direct downstream pressure on European sports nutrition brands and contract manufacturers.

The Health Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for marketers and founders in supplements, functional food and consumer health, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day.

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What is The Health Marketing Daily?

The daily briefing for professionals in health, nutrition, and wellness marketing. Every episode covers an ingredient of the day, the latest science and regulatory updates from EFSA and beyond, and the brand and market moves shaping the nutraceutical industry. Hosted by Klara and Marco — evidence-based, no hype, no bro-science. Built for formulators, brand managers, regulatory affairs teams, and anyone building in the health and nutrition space.

Marco: Four strong stories on the table today.
Klara: We're opening with new Italian data on GLP-1 users and what they're spending on supplements — the commercial signal is hard to ignore.
Marco: Then Italy's €5.4 billion supplement market is under public scrutiny — do consumers actually need what they're buying?
Klara: A seasoned founder is betting big on longevity gummies.
Marco: And whey protein costs are climbing again. Let's get into it.

Marco: Italian pharmacy data is showing something the European supplement industry should be paying very close attention to — GLP-1 drug users are spending significantly more on supplements and wellness products while they're still on the medication.

Marco: GLP-1 drugs — that's the class including semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy — have dominated health headlines for two years. Most brands have been thinking about the post-drug consumer. What happens when people stop taking GLP-1s and need to manage their weight differently. That's been the dominant commercial assumption.

Marco: But this Italian data flips that logic. The spending uplift is happening now, while users are still actively on the drugs. Italian pharmacy and health retail channels are where this is most visible. The article frames it as a structural market shift — meaning it's not a blip. It's a new consumer profile that brands need to build a strategy around today, not in two years.

Marco: Commercially, this is a clear signal. These consumers are already health-engaged, already spending, and they're walking into pharmacies regularly. Brands positioned in pharmacy — think protein supplements, vitamins, gut health products — have a direct line to this audience right now.

Klara: I'd add some nuance here. GLP-1 users face real nutritional challenges — lower food intake means lower micronutrient intake, and muscle loss is a documented concern. So the supplement spending isn't random. There's a genuine physiological rationale behind it. That said, brands need to be careful. EFSA — the European food safety authority — has authorised very specific health claims. You cannot simply stick a "supports GLP-1 users" message on a product without evidence to back it up.

Marco: Exactly the right caution. The opportunity is real — but the messaging has to be grounded.

Marco: Let's move to our next story.

Klara: Italy is now the biggest supplement market in Europe — and a major food journalism outlet is openly asking whether that's actually a good thing.

Klara: Italy hitting €5.4 billion puts it ahead of Germany, France, and every other European market. That's a remarkable number. But the story attached to it matters as much as the figure itself.

Klara: Il Fatto Alimentare — one of Italy's most widely read food and consumer publications — ran a critical piece questioning whether Italian supplement consumption is driven by genuine need or by advertising. They drew a clear line between pharmaceuticals, which go through clinical trials and regulatory approval, and supplements, which don't face the same bar. That framing is significant. When a credible consumer media platform starts explaining that distinction to mass audiences, it shifts the conversation.

Klara: From a regulatory standpoint, this is uncomfortable territory for brands. EFSA authorises specific health claims — essentially, statements about what a product does for your body — and those claims have to be backed by solid evidence. But many supplements on Italian shelves, and across Europe, are marketed in ways that imply benefits without making explicit authorised claims. It's technically legal. But it's exactly the kind of grey area this type of journalism targets.

Marco: Commercially, I'd separate two things. The €5.4 billion headline is a genuine opportunity — Italy is a proven, mature market where consumers will spend. But the scrutiny is a warning that brands can't ignore. If earned media starts framing your category as unnecessary or misleading, that erodes trust faster than any advertising budget can rebuild it.

Klara: And that's where we disagree slightly. I think the scrutiny is healthy. The category needs it. Brands with strong evidence behind their products should welcome the pressure — it clears out the noise.

Marco: Fair in principle, but the reputational damage rarely lands only on the weak products. It lands on the whole shelf.

Klara: That's a real risk. The industry's answer has to be transparency — clear evidence, honest claims, no overreach.

Marco: Next story — let's keep going.

Marco: A serial founder with two successful health brands is now betting on longevity gummies — and that tells us a lot about where this category is heading.

Marco: Richard Laver built Kate Farms, a clinical nutrition brand, and then Lucky Energy. Two very different products, but both required him to build consumer trust around functional health claims. When someone with that track record picks his next move carefully, it's worth paying attention.

Marco: Laver is preparing to launch a new longevity-focused supplement gummy brand. No clinical nutrition this time, no energy drinks. Gummies. That format choice is deliberate — gummies consistently rank among the fastest-growing delivery formats in supplements, especially for pulling in consumers who don't already buy capsules or powders.

Klara: From a science perspective, the format question is real. Gummies often contain lower active ingredient doses than capsules — there's only so much you can pack in before the texture and taste suffer. And the longevity category is still scientifically messy. Compounds like NMN, spermidine, senolytic botanicals — these are genuinely interesting research areas, but the clinical evidence in humans is still early-stage. EFSA has not authorised health claims for most of what longevity brands are currently selling. That's a significant constraint for European markets.

Marco: Which is exactly why the format signal matters commercially. Laver isn't going after the hardcore biohacker who reads clinical abstracts. He's going after the everyday wellness shopper who already buys vitamin D and magnesium at dm or Holland & Barrett. That consumer doesn't need peer-reviewed validation — they need trust, taste, and a credible story.

Klara: That's where I'd push the industry harder. Trust built on a credible story without credible evidence is fragile. The scrutiny we talked about earlier with the Italian market applies here too.

Marco: Agreed — and that's the tension every longevity brand entering Europe needs to resolve before they hit the shelf.

Marco: On to our final story for today.

Klara: Glanbia — one of the world's largest whey protein suppliers — is warning that further price increases are coming, and European sports nutrition brands are directly in the firing line.

Klara: Whey protein is the backbone ingredient in most protein powders, bars, and functional foods across Europe. When a supplier of Glanbia's scale moves its pricing, the whole market feels it. Brands don't have many places to hide.

Klara: The specifics: Glanbia has confirmed it will push prices higher into the new year. Whey costs have pulled back from their absolute peak, but pricing uncertainty is expected to persist at least through the first quarter. That's not a short-term spike — it's a prolonged squeeze on input costs for anyone using whey as a core ingredient.

Klara: From a formulation standpoint, this creates real pressure. Whey protein concentrate and isolate have strong efficacy data behind them — that's why they've dominated sports nutrition for decades. If brands reformulate to cut costs, they need to be honest about what that means for the product's nutritional profile. Swapping whey for a cheaper blend isn't a neutral decision — it can change amino acid composition and digestibility. Those differences matter for the consumer even if they're not visible on the front of pack.

Marco: The commercial read here is straightforward — brands face four options: absorb the margin hit, raise retail prices, reformulate, or accelerate the shift to plant-based proteins like pea or rice. None of those are painless. But plant-based protein suppliers should be on the phone today making their cost-stability pitch to every brand buyer they know.

Klara: That's where we'd land differently. Cost stability alone isn't enough to justify a reformulation. The clinical profile of the new ingredient needs to hold up too. Pea protein is promising, but it's not a like-for-like swap for whey.

Marco: The brands that figure out how to make that transition convincingly — with the evidence to back it — will be in a stronger position on both cost and shelf differentiation.

Marco: If today's stories share one thread, it's this — the supplement market is bigger than ever, but trust, cost, and credibility are all under pressure at once.
Klara: Know what your ingredients actually do, and be ready to prove it.