GLP-1 terminology – overview
- GLP-1 is the most recognised weight-loss drug term globally
- Nearly half of UK consumers refer to drugs as GLP-1
- Ozempic and Mounjaro remain widely used brand-name alternatives
- Mounjaro as a term is growing faster than GLP-1 internationally
- Understanding terminology helps food brands communicate more effectively
The rise of GLP-1s has taken the world by storm. Or is it the rise of Ozempic? Or the rise of weight-loss injections? Or the rise of, as US President Donald Trump likes to call them, “fat jabs”?
As the food industry continues to grapple with the drugs’ popularity and the resulting need to reformulate and resize its products, it must understand what consumers call the drugs, and which terms are most recognisable.
“GLP-1″ is the most common term, and growing
GLP-1s, which is used as shorthand for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, is a medical name rather than a brand name. As a series of letters followed by a number, it is, some might argue, not the catchiest of terms. The key question is, has this stopped it from entering into common parlance?
The answer is a resounding no, according to data from AI analytics company Tastewise.
“‘GLP-1′ is the most common way people refer to the drugs … ahead of any brand name,“ explains Miriam Aniel Oved, senior consumer trends analyst at Tastewise. ”That’s the opposite of the usual pattern, where a category takes the name of its leading product.”
This is seen clearly in the UK, where about 47%, or nearly one in two, call GLP-1s by the term “GLP-1″, ahead of any individual brand name.
In France, Germany and Spain too, “GLP-1″ is the most-used term for weight-loss drugs.
Use of the term is growing fast across markets. As of July 2026, use of “GLP-1″ had grown by 120% year-on-year in Germany, 137% in Spain and 151% in France.
Brand names are also prominent
A significant number of consumers also use brand names to describe GLP-1s.
In the UK, 29.5% call GLP-1s “Ozempic” and 28.4% “Mounjaro”, according to Tastewise. The brand name “Wegovy” trails behind, being used by only 8.1% of UK consumers.
Ozempic is the brand name most commonly used as a shorthand for the drugs in Germany and Spain, whilst in France, it’s Mounjaro.
The use of brand names is still growing in most markets, with the exception of “Ozempic” in Germany, the use of which has declined by 4% year-on-year.
One brand name is exploding into prominence: use of the term “Mounjaro” is growing faster than “GLP-1″ in Spain, France and Germany.
Other terms
Besides clinical terms and brand names, other, more generic terms for weight-loss drugs also exist.
In the UK, for example, 5.5% of consumers use the term “fat jab”, 2.5% use “skinny jab” and 1.3% use “skinny pen”.
In Germany, the term “Abnehmspritze”, which translates to “weight-loss injection”, has grown by 378% year-on-year, faster than any other term in the data. This is unique to Germany, according to Oved.
“Nowhere else [is] a local word genuinely competing with the global brands,” says Tastewise’s Oved.
Communicating with consumers
While regulatory constraints still exist on how explicit brands can be in relating a food’s benefits to GLP-1 users, manufacturers may want to appeal directly to such users in marketing and on packaging.
It is also important that products can be discovered on social media and through AI. Furthermore, manufacturers must be able to understand local terms (such as Germany’s “Abnehmspritze”) to appeal to different markets.
Understanding what consumers call weight-loss drugs makes it easier for the food industry to directly communicate with them about a product’s potential benefits to users.
