Nestlé is to target “Ozempic face” by selling dietary supplements to counteract the effects of weight-loss drugs.
The maker of KitKat and Smarties is braced for a dent in sales of ice cream and confectionery amid soaring demand for products such as Ozempic.
Nestlé said it would roll out products that “complement” people’s weight-loss treatments, including hair growth supplements, electrolyte tablets and collagen peptides that improve skin elasticity.
Anna Mohl, the chief executive of Nestlé’s health science division, told Bloomberg it would keep up with changing needs among customers, including “preserving lean muscle mass, managing digestive upset and assuring an adequate daily consumption of micronutrients”.
The supplements are expected to help to tackle the rise of “Ozempic face”, a side-effect of taking the diabetes drug semaglutide for weight loss whereby the face looks gaunt and skin loses its elasticity.
The side-effect is named after Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic treatment, which is a diabetes drug that is used off-label to treat obesity. Novo Nordisk also makes the Wegovy weight-loss drug, which has been proven to help people lose an average of 15pc of their body weight.
Swiss skincare company Galderma in April said it was expecting a boom in demand for fillers as more people start to take obesity treatments but do not want to lose weight from their faces.
Nestlé’s latest move comes as food manufacturers prepare to counteract pressure on sales from more weight-loss treatments.
Last month, Mark Schneider, Nestlé’s chief executive, said the company was expecting a blow to sales from the drugs, which work by suppressing appetite.
He said: “In our case, that will be the frozen food side of things, confectionery, and to some extent ice cream.”
Nestlé, which also makes Häagen-Dazs, is launching a new range of protein-enriched pastas and pizzas for people taking obesity drugs.
It said last month that these products would give people “the right nutrition – high protein, good fibre, the right minerals”.
A recent study suggested that the treatments led patients to consume as much as 30pc fewer calories.
Sales of obesity injections have surged over the past year. Around one in four US adults have taken a GLP-1 treatment.
Novo Nordisk has been racing to keep up with the huge level of demand for the drugs. In the UK, as many as 50,000 people are expected to be eligible for Wegovy on the NHS.
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