{"id":1656,"date":"2026-05-18T10:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fisgroup.mastersofbrands.co.uk\/?post_type=syndicated_study&p=1656"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:10:13","slug":"appetite-shift","status":"publish","type":"syndicated_study","link":"https:\/\/fisgroup.mastersofbrands.co.uk\/thought-leadership\/syndicated-studies\/appetite-shift","title":{"rendered":"Appetite Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | SYNDICATED STUDIES | MULTI-PHASE RESEARCH<\/p>\n \n

Appetite Shift: how GLP-1, functional food and food culture shifts are reshaping consumer behaviour<\/h1>\n \n

A multi-phase syndicated research programme from FIS Group tracking the deepest food culture shifts in a generation. Wave 1 published, exploring how UK consumers are thinking about food and health in the era of GLP-1 medications, ultra-processed food awareness and functional food demand. Wave 2 launching imminently, with US fieldwork added for the first time. Now is the moment to join the programme before Wave 2 starts.<\/p>\n \n \n <\/div>\n\n

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What Appetite Shift covers and why it matters<\/h2>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n
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Three structural shifts are happening simultaneously in food and drink consumer behaviour, and they are reshaping commercial reality at population scale. GLP-1 medications (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and successor compounds) are reshaping portion size, meal frequency and category spend across multiple categories, with usage now reaching levels where the behavioural impact extends well beyond the medicated population through cultural diffusion. Functional food demand is evolving from a niche consumer segment to mainstream expectation, with consumers increasingly wanting protein, fibre, gut health benefits, cognitive support and emotional wellbeing from everyday eating rather than from supplements alone. Ultra-processed food awareness is reshaping consumer trust, perception and purchasing behaviour, with the UPF conversation now mainstream enough to influence category dynamics in ways that were marginal even eighteen months ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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These three shifts are not happening in isolation. They intersect, amplify each other and create commercial implications that no single piece of research can fully capture. The brand response framework built around stable consumer behaviour assumptions from five years ago is no longer fit for purpose. Innovation pipelines scoped against pre-GLP-1 commercial reality miss the most important consumer behaviour shifts of the next decade. Positioning work calibrated against pre-UPF-awareness consumer trust dynamics misreads the market. Brand strategy that has not factored in the functional food mainstream is competing on yesterday’s playing field.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Appetite Shift is the multi-phase syndicated research programme tracking these shifts in deep detail. The programme runs across multiple waves, each focused on a specific dimension of the broader shift. Wave 1 (Labels, Pills and Functional Thrills) explored the foundational territory with UK consumers, mapping how the three shifts are reshaping food and health thinking, behaviour and category dynamics. Wave 2 expands the work in two directions: longitudinal tracking of UK changes since Wave 1 fieldwork, and the first international wave of the programme covering US consumers in parallel with the continued UK work. Subsequent waves will track specific dimensions in deeper detail (functional food category dynamics, GLP-1 user behaviour evolution, UPF perception shifts) as the programme progresses.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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The programme is for brand directors, innovation directors, category leads, strategic leadership, foresight teams and senior commercial decision-makers at food and drink brands navigating this commercial reset. Whether you operate in a category directly affected (snacking, confectionery, ready meals, indulgence) or a category that benefits commercially from the shifts (protein, functional, premium, health-led), the programme provides the substantive consumer research needed to inform commercial decisions against current consumer reality rather than against pre-shift assumptions. Programme content is available through three engagement pathways outlined in section 5 below: free programme overview presentation (for evaluation), full programme subscription (for ongoing access including Wave 2 from launch), and bespoke commissioning (for brands wanting custom syndicate work on related territory).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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What Wave 1 found<\/h2>\n

Wave 1 of Appetite Shift ran across the UK consumer base in the foundational research phase of the programme. The fieldwork explored how UK consumers are thinking, feeling and behaving around food and health in the era of GLP-1 medications, ultra-processed food awareness and functional food demand. The wave was designed to map the foundational territory rather than to investigate any single shift in deep isolation, with the architectural intent of identifying which dimensions warrant deeper investigation in subsequent waves.<\/p>\n

Key Wave 1 findings include the structural mainstreaming of functional food demand (consumers want nutritional benefit from their food rather than from supplements alone, with health complexity driving the preference); the disconnect between consumer health intent and consumer behaviour confidence (consumers are negotiating with themselves every time they eat, with the trade-off calculus extending well beyond medicated populations); the population-wide reset in portion size and meal frequency thinking (driven by but not limited to GLP-1 users, with cultural diffusion extending the behaviour change across non-medicated consumers); and the commercial implications for premium positioning, snacking categories, ingredient transparency and brand trust dynamics.<\/p>\n

The Wave 1 published summary captures the foundational findings in a 30-page presentation that subscribers and free-download readers can both access. The in-depth Wave 1 findings (complete consumer data, verbatim responses, detailed segmentation work, strategic implications by category) are available exclusively to programme subscribers through our Syndicate Studies service.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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    Three numbers from Wave 1<\/h2>\n <\/li>\n \n
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    72%<\/h6>\n

    of UK consumers are taking vitamins and supplements to support their health, but given the choice, would rather get that nutrition from their food.<\/p>\n <\/li>\n

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    to confirm<\/h6>\n <\/li>\n
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    What Wave 2 covers<\/h2>\n

    Wave 2 of Appetite Shift launches imminently, expanding the programme in two directions simultaneously. The UK fieldwork continues as longitudinal tracking, capturing what has changed across the foundational territory since Wave 1 fieldwork closed. The themes that emerged most strongly from Wave 1 (functional food mainstreaming, the disconnect between health intent and behaviour, the population-wide portion and frequency reset) become the focus of deeper investigation in the UK tracking work. The longitudinal dimension is structurally important because the shifts the programme tracks are accelerating fast, with consumer behaviour materially different now compared to even six months ago.<\/p>\n

    Wave 2 also marks the first international wave of the Appetite Shift programme. US consumer fieldwork runs in parallel with the UK longitudinal work, using a methodology calibrated to enable rigorous UK versus US comparison while still capturing the structural differences between the two markets. The US expansion matters commercially because the three shifts the programme tracks are happening in both markets but with distinctively different dynamics: GLP-1 access patterns differ between the US healthcare system and the UK NHS context, functional food culture maturity is different between US and UK consumer markets, UPF awareness is at different levels of mainstream conversation. Brands operating across both markets, or brands considering entry into either market, need the comparative dimension to make commercial decisions against current consumer reality rather than against generalised assumptions.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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    Wave 2 scope (planned):<\/h2>\n
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    • UK longitudinal tracking: what has changed since Wave 1, with deeper investigation of the themes that emerged most strongly<\/li>\n
    • US foundational research: parallel to UK Wave 1, mapping the US consumer territory across GLP-1, functional food and UPF awareness dimensions<\/li>\n
    • UK vs US comparative analysis: where the markets converge and where they diverge structurally<\/li>\n
    • Deeper investigation of functional food category dynamics: which functional benefits are mainstreaming, which are still niche, where the commercial opportunity sits<\/li>\n
    • GLP-1 user behaviour evolution: how medicated consumers are evolving their food and drink behaviour beyond the initial weight loss phase<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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      Wave 2 timing:<\/h2>\n

      Fieldwork launching [TO CONFIRM: month\/quarter]. UK and US fieldwork running in parallel. Wave 2 findings publishing [TO CONFIRM: month\/quarter] for subscribers. Wave 2 summary publishing publicly [TO CONFIRM: lag period after subscriber access].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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      Two ways to engage with the programme<\/h2>\n

      Whether you are evaluating the programme or ready to subscribe, both pathways are below. Wave 2 launches imminently, so the moment to join is now.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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      Pathway 1: Download the programme overview presentation<\/h2>\n

      A comprehensive programme overview presentation covering: Wave 1 summary findings, Wave 2 scope and methodology, the full programme phase plan, key questions across the programme, methodology and sample structure, and the commercial implications surfaced so far. The presentation is substantial enough to be commercially useful on its own (typically 30-40 slides) while reserving the in-depth findings, complete data and ongoing wave access for programme subscribers.<\/p>\n

      This is the right pathway if: you are evaluating whether the programme is relevant to your team’s commercial questions; you need top-level findings to share internally before a subscription decision; you want to see programme structure and methodology before committing; or you want the substantive overview for general intelligence purposes without ongoing subscription engagement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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      Download the programme overview presentation<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n \n
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