Weight-management is the third-largest need state for supplements, checking in at over $7 billion in sales in 2024, according to Nutrition Business Journal. While this category is omnipresent, it is also evolving, especially with the advent of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide) receptor agonist (RA) drugs.
As new ingredients and innovations compete for a share of the market, knowing where to start when formulating new products and refreshing existing SKUs can be challenging for brands and manufacturers. SupplySide Supplement Journal turned to the following industry experts to understand how weight-management has changed over the years and where it will go next:
Jacqueline Jacques, N.D., president and co-founder of Thrive Advisory Group, a consultancy specializing in consumer wellness
Susan Hewlings, Ph.D., co-founder of Substantiation Sciences, a consultancy that specializes in providing scientific and regulatory support
David Foreman, founder of The Herbal Pharmacist, a brand and platform focused on natural health and herbal medicine.
Doug Lynch, CEO of MarketWell Nutrition, a consultancy and service provider focused on health, wellness and nutrition.
Q: How has the weight-loss and weight-management supplement market evolved during your career?
Jacques: When I started in the industry, we still had ephedra. Supplements were primarily stimulants — ephedra, caffeine, green tea, yohimbine. There were some “fat blockers” like chitosan. A lot changed when ephedra was banned, as it created a kind of void in the industry that supplement companies had to scramble to replace.
Hewlings: Over the past decade, weight management has moved from big promises and small results toward metabolic health, body composition and supporting gastrointestinal (GI) side effects. This shift has been driven of course by GLP-1s but also by greater consumer skepticism. GLP-1s have forced the industry to refocus its weight-loss category — it must be more than the number on the scale.
Foreman: The move over the decades has shifted with fads — high fiber, high protein, low carb, low glycemic index and now on to GLP-1. These have all been fueled by what was occurring in modern medicine at the time.
Q: What are your thoughts on the GLP-1 trend?
Lynch: Not since awareness of “Proteins are good!” has a message been so widely adopted, propelled by the billions in advertising the pharmaceuticals have been spending on promoting GLP-1s. There are more consumers taking GLP-1 RAs than ever before, and new technologies offering the pharmaceuticals in noninjectable delivery systems will only create a larger customer base and awareness to the benefits of GLP-1 medications.
Hewlings: What GLP-1 RAs have done is change how consumers and the industry think about obesity and weight-management. More people recognize obesity as a chronic, biologically influenced condition rather than a simple willpower issue.
Foreman: GLP-1 has not changed the industry forever. There are always new trends and fads, and this too will fade. The focus on proving an ingredient increases the natural production of GLP-1 is misleading. Consumers assume this means the ingredient will work like a GLP-1 RA, yet it won’t even come close.
Q: How can supplement brands best support those on — and coming off — GLP-1 RA drugs?
Lynch: There are three groups of consumers that the supplement industry can play major roles in supporting: those who want to take the drugs but don’t out of legitimate concerns such as price and side effects, those on the medications dealing with side effects and special nutrient requirements, and those dealing with protein loss and fat/weight regain after discontinuing the drugs.
Hewlings: As individuals transition off GLP-1 therapies, supplements can support the behavioral framework that helps maintain outcomes — such as satiety, stress and sleep support, and nutrient-dense dietary patterns that reduce the risk of weight regain.
Jacques: Ideally, we start helping people at the very beginning, but when people off-ramp from these medications, they absolutely need our support. There is a major window of opportunity to help people do better and maintain the success they achieve on GLP-1 RAs. We can support them with functional foods that increase nutrient density, products that improve satiety, exercise tolerance, metabolism and more.
Q: What are the biggest trends you see in weight-management outside of GLP-1?
Hewlings: Key trends include a renewed focus on fiber for satiety and gut health; growing attention on body composition rather than weight alone; increasing interest in measurable behavioral outcomes such as cravings and appetite control; and the integration of digital health tools, wearables and personalized coaching to support adherence and long-term success.
Jacques: The overall focus on optimizing metabolic health and body composition is an underlying theme that is manifesting everywhere from the snack aisle to social media. With women’s health starting to come into focus, I am seeing a smaller trend around perimenopause of really starting to educate women on how their hormones play into body weight and metabolic regulation.
Q: What are the top ingredients you see in the weight-management space?
Lynch: Chromium picolinate is time-tested and has great results on appetite and fat loss. ThymoQuin, a patented black cumin seed oil, works on reducing cortisol.
Foreman: Protein, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).
Jacques: Citrus flavonoids, fibers and prebiotics, stimulants, and ingredients for glucose regulation such as mulberry leaf.
Q: Why should supplement brands take a holistic approach to weight-management products?
Foreman: Most if not all health challenges have multiple reasons “why” they occur. In order to truly be holistic, we need to address as many of these underlying physiological, psychological and biochemical mechanisms as possible.
Hewlings: A holistic approach reflects the reality that weight-management is influenced by multiple interconnected systems. Sleep quality, stress, gastrointestinal comfort, mood, inflammation and physical function all affect adherence and long-term outcomes. The key is to avoid creating overly complex “kitchen sink” formulas — and instead develop coherent approaches that integrate products with education, coaching and measurable outcomes.
Lynch: Recommending activity is super important as well, as diet programs tend to work better with moderate exercise. Subjects see results, feel stronger and tend to stay on the programs longer.
Q: What aspects of clinical trials in the weight-management space are important to you?
Foreman: Some companies are identifying the mechanism(s) of action for their ingredients. When we have this information, we can use it to create multifunctional ingredients that will help address the many underlying causes of their condition.
Jacques: I just want everyone to go and study weight-loss maintenance. This is the most important space. We are going to see pharmaceuticals get approval for this, so we (the natural products industry) need to really study our products and programs for this indication now.
Hewlings: Meaningful trials should go beyond body weight and include body composition metrics such as fat mass and lean mass, waist circumference, cardiometabolic markers like glucose and lipid profiles, and validated patient-reported outcomes related to hunger, satiety, cravings, sleep and quality of life. Functional measures, including strength and physical activity, are also increasingly important for demonstrating real-world relevance.
Q: What are ingredient suppliers and supplement brands missing about the weight-loss market today?
Foreman: Suppliers and brands primarily focus on GLP-1 and need to expand beyond this area to help consumers with the many facets of weight management — namely stress, sleep, pain (may impede activity levels) and hormones, because they all contribute to weight-management struggles.
Jacques: They need to stop seeing it as a competition with drug companies and reenvision this as a partnership for the continuum of care. This means we need to do away with the thinking that weight-loss ever has been or ever will be a one-and-done event for most people. The reality is that it is usually chronic, so ongoing support should be where we focus.
Lynch: Whenever I advise a branded ingredient for weight loss, I get samples in the market above and beyond the clinical trial subjects, so that I can gain testimonials, get a clear feeling for the time to show results, and also tap into the other quality of life (QOL) markers that are improving while waistlines are going down.
Q: What advice would you give to supplement manufacturers as they create new products or reformulate existing ones?
Lynch: Conduct highly powered clinical trials. It goes without saying, but safety of these ingredients is also paramount. This space is still highly regulated in comparison to other indications in the supplement industry, and the industry does not need another ephedra on its hands.
Hewlings: Manufacturers should define a clear primary benefit supported by clinically relevant dosing and realistic effect sizes. Investing in well-designed, preregistered clinical trials and validated outcome measures can significantly strengthen both regulatory defensibility and market credibility.
Foreman: Conduct more clinical studies exclusively with women. Look for technology advancements to enhance existing ingredients, like solubility, stability and bioavailability.
Jacques: Think about formulating products that are going to be easy for people to use with long-term consistency. This probably means that we need solutions in multiple functional forms versus just a handful of pills.
Q: Where do you see the weight-loss and management market at in five years?
Lynch: The category will continue to grow, as new ingredients will be discovered that act on signals of satiety, fat loss and weight-loss. More ingredients and finished products will target the growing numbers of GLP-1 RA users, those getting off the drugs and trying to have a “soft landing,” and those looking for effective natural alternatives.
Hewlings: GLP-1s will be there, but there will be others — and there will be more personalization where genetics and individual aspects will be tested before drugs or supplements are suggested.
Lynch: As long as we all continue to make the same poor lifestyle choices, stressors, etc., weight-management will always exist. GLP-1 will most likely be even bigger in five years with the advent of new delivery methods, studies and doses. The drug has many other influences outside of weight-management.
Jacques: Optimistically, I would like to envision that we are moving toward a model of care that supports individuals not just in achieving a number on a scale, but better body composition and cardiometabolic health across their lifespan. If we can really do this, we can impact not just individual health, but generational and population health in a truly meaningful way.
Click here to read SupplySide Supplement Journal’s latest digital magazine on weight-management.
