Already today, more than 1 billion people are living with obesity1 and predictions show that by 2030, nearly 3 billion adults – about half of the adult population – will be overweight or obese.2 Childhood obesity is also rising, which is of particular concern given that excess weight in early life frequently persists into adulthood. With being overweight and obese both major risk factors for non-communicable diseases, including type-2 diabetes and heart disease, this is putting global health systems under increasing pressure. Therefore, prioritising prevention from the earliest years, and throughout all stages of life, has never been more important.
Highlighting the scale of the problem is the focus for this year’s World Obesity Day theme, taking place on 4th March, which centres on “8 billion reasons to act on obesity”. While this is far beyond the remit of any one industry to solve on their own, the food industry has a pivotal role to play. Ingredients suppliers such as BENEO, along with manufacturers, have a shared responsibility to help consumers manage their weight sustainably by creating new food and drink concepts that make behavioural changes easier for consumers.
The GLP-1 momentum is reshaping the food and beverage industry, and manufacturers are increasingly exploring opportunities to position themselves in this market with value-added products. As a solution provider for the industry, BENEO is seeing rising demand for more versatile concepts. While the first generation of weight loss supporting products was focused on short-term calorie reduction, this is now evolving towards formulations that support long-term weight management.
Although GLP-1 therapies might be here to stay, many consumers continue to pursue weight management through natural approaches that may lead to more gradual weight loss but are considered more balanced. Either way, the need for high quality diets remains essential, and functional ingredients have a crucial role to play. Today, losing or maintaining weight is just one piece of the puzzle within a broader approach to living healthily, including fostering a healthy gut, contributing to metabolic and mental health or supporting good sleep. That’s where smart nutrition comes in and BENEO is well positioned with a broad toolbox of science-backed solutions that can support these sophisticated needs.
Providing additional benefits for each stage of the weight loss journey will be key to addressing the global issue of obesity. There is huge potential for manufacturers to reformulate or develop new concepts that support consumers in this regard by creating nutrient-dense foods that deliver improved nutritional profiles. Whether that’s products enriched with prebiotic fibre, plant-based proteins or low-glycaemic carbohydrates, there’s now a variety of ingredients within the weight management toolbox.
One thing is clear; consumer education is paramount in tackling the issue of obesity and highlighting the important role of healthy diets. This is particularly important to avoid the misunderstanding that weight loss drugs are an easy solution – especially given weight regain after discontinuation is a major risk if eating habits are not adapted.
BENEO’s years of expertise in formulating food and drink products with added nutrition or health benefits, that also taste good, remains the same and positions us well to help our customers develop valuable products that not only contribute to weight loss goals but to overall health. This is an asset we continue to leverage now to advise our customers through our unique chain of expertise. This includes experts in application technology to support with reformulation and product development, as well as scientific and legislative experts to offer guidance on claim opportunities.
With such stark predictions on the number of people set to be suffering from obesity in the years to come, now is the time to act. We as an industry are equipped with both the knowledge, expertise and solutions to help tackle this issue head on, and to protect the future of our population, and our global health systems. This is a shared responsibility we mustn’t shy away from, and at BENEO we won’t.
References
- https://www.worldobesityday.org/
- World Obesity Atlas 2025. London: World Obesity Federation, 2025. https://data.worldobesity.org/publications/?cat=23; Overweight BMI >25 kg/m2
