10 Oct 2025 | By Jolanda van Hal
GLP-1 receptor agonist medications are transforming the food and health landscape with their ability to combat the obesity epidemic and change people’s relationship with food. The Innovation Institute for Food and Health’s (IIFH) recent Discovery Forum explored how the science behind metabolic hormones can inspire a new wave of innovation in food for health.
Nutrition Insight attended the event from the University of California (UC) Davis, US, institute.
“We are at an incredible moment,” says Justin Siegel, Ph.D., IIFH faculty director. “It seems to me that this trend of using satiety-based drugs is starting to affect nearly every element of American — and worldwide — life.”
He says there has been a “tectonic shift” in human health. “In 1990, you could not find a single state in the US with an average body mass index (BMI) of over 25. In 2020, no state had an average BMI under that.”
“This isn’t just happening in the US; it’s global,” he underscores. “In 1990, hunger was the world’s biggest health issue. Hunger is still an issue in many places, but the global burden of human health is now obesity.”
