Users of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are reporting unexpected shifts in food preferences, from aversion to meat to distaste for savory or spicy dishes. This prompts scientists to explore why these changes occur.
Alyssa Fraser, a former Minnesota food reporter, once cherished cooking chicken and vegetable dishes or pasta. After starting Wegovy, a form of semaglutide, her passion for cooking waned.
“Many savory meals lost their appeal, and some proteins began to taste too much like the ‘barnyard’ the animal came from,” she said, Scientific American reported.
Once crisp and citrusy, her favorite wine now tastes oddly “vegetal.”
Similarly, Siobhan, a Los Angeles writer on Wegovy since 2021, finds her beloved panang curry too bitter.
“I’ve been eating that curry for 20 years,” she said. “It just didn’t taste right anymore.”
Sarah Streby, a two-year Wegovy user, can no longer stomach eggs or broccoli, and her love for spicy food has faded.
“Now everyone’s complaining the food is too mild because [I] can’t handle the spice,” she said.
These glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, including Ozempic (semaglutide for type 2 diabetes), Wegovy, and Zepbound (tirzepatide), were designed to manage diabetes by triggering insulin release but also promote weight loss by enhancing satiety.
Beyond feeling full faster, some users report altered food preferences, with meats, fried foods, and savory snacks becoming unappealing. Online forums and surveys note a general disinterest in food, with some users viewing it as a necessity rather than a joy. Grocery data suggest GLP-1 users spend less on calorie-dense and processed items.
A study in Food Quality and Preference found that GLP-1 users consumed 700 fewer daily calories, ate less beef, processed foods, and sugary drinks, and increased their intake of fruit, leafy greens, and water. However, co-author Brandon McFadden, a University of Arkansas food policy economics professor, noted that self-reported data can be unreliable.
John Blundell, an emeritus professor at the University of Leeds, notes that liking a food differs from wanting it.
“GLP-1 medications seem to involve the reverse: people still like certain foods but have less of an immediate urge to eat them,” he said.
GLP-1 drugs mimic a gut hormone that binds to receptors in brain areas regulating appetite and reward, reducing food’s pleasure response, the primary driver of weight loss. Blundell suggested the drugs’ satiating effect may shift preferences, as hunger drives cravings for high-protein or high-fat foods, while fullness makes them aversive.
When you become full, the reverse happens,” he said.
A 2017 study he led found that semaglutide users ate fewer high-fat and savory foods, mirroring patterns seen in satiety. Yet, emerging evidence points to taste changes. A 2024 Endocrine Society study showed women on semaglutide had heightened taste sensitivity, with brain scans indicating increased sensory reward activity for sweets.
Conversely, a March Physiology & Behavior study found that 46 GLP-1 users had reduced sensitivity to all five basic tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—compared to controls.
“The focus has always been on sugar, and so people haven’t looked at the other sensory systems in any great detail,” said co-author Richard Doty of the University of Pennsylvania’s Smell and Taste Center.
GLP-1 receptors in taste buds may explain these shifts, though research is inconclusive. For some, like Fraser, the changes are complex.
“Not only am I not cooking or really taking an interest in food — if I want it, it’s sweets,” she says. “And even then, if it’s super sweet, I’ll take a bite or two, and I’m like, I gotta put it down.”
Despite losing a beloved hobby, she values the reduced mental burden of weight loss.
“The mental load of weight loss has been greatly reduced,” she says, “and that is worth it to me.”
Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, did not respond to inquiries. Eli Lilly, Zepbound’s manufacturer, said it lacks data on taste changes and advised users to consult healthcare providers about side effects.