Future of Food · Issue 12 · August 2026
The other half of the prescription
How GLP-1 drugs are creating a market New Zealand could own
The drugs solve for weight, not nutrition. The gap they leave behind is a market nobody has written the protocol for yet.
A year on from Wegovy arriving in New Zealand, people on GLP-1 medicines are eating less, snacking less and drinking less. What the drugs do not do is make sure people are well nourished. They leave real gaps in protein, leucine, fibre, calcium, iron and vitamin D, and food has to fill them.
For a country that has built its export story on volume, that is both a threat and the best opening we have had in years. Value moves from tonnes to nutrition per bite and proof per claim. The products we already grow can serve that future, but only if we invest in the science, the evidence and the formats before pharma and overseas specialists set the standards for us.
What the issue covers
- GLP-1s weaken the long-held assumption that global food demand will just keep growing.
- Dairy protein, red meat, seafood, eggs and legumes gain a specific clinical job to do, and small complete meals become the premium format.
- The risk at home is real: processing built for big portions, our snack and beverage makers, and hospitality all feel it first.
- What separates the winners is not what we grow. It is whether we can prove what it does.
A question to take to your next board or leadership meeting
If your customers ate a third less tomorrow, which of your products could prove their value in a smaller serve?
Work through it with me- Written by
- Dr Victoria Hatton, Vincent Heeringa and Irene Chapple
- Research led by
- Ebony Leake
The Future of Food series was originally published by FoodHQ Innovation Limited between 2024 and 2026, while I was Chief Executive. Each issue is reproduced here in full, with thanks to my co-authors, the contributors and FoodHQ's partners.