How reformulation can support nutrition

Nutrition when appetite shrinks: What GLP-1 receptor agonist therapies mean for food design

GLP-1 medications are changing eating patterns at scale.

• Smaller portions.

• Lower appetite.

• Greater sensitivity to texture, heaviness, and satiety.

Whether people are currently using GLP-1 receptor agonist therapies, tapering off them, or simply eating less for other reasons, the implication for the food system is the same: when intake falls, nutritional efficiency matters more. Food designed for high consumption volumes struggles in a low-intake world. Products optimised for calories, bulk, and cost-per-kilo start to look misaligned when consumers are eating fewer mouthfuls - not more.

The opportunity is not to medicalise food. It is to make everyday food nutritionally efficient, affordable, and easy to tolerate.

If you want to reformulate foods to help improve nutrition and meet the realities of a GLP-1 world, contact us!

Why fibre and protein together matter — without making claims

Protein and fibre are two of the most important structural components in modern food formulation. Not because of any single outcome, but because together they contribute to:

• nutritional density

• functional performance in food

• and how filling foods feel relative to portion size

Many current protein systems deliver one without the other or rely on heavy fractionation that strips crops into isolated components.

UPP takes a different approach. By fractionating broccoli into protein-rich and fibre-rich ingredients, we concentrate nutrition while reducing the simple sugars and fermentable fractions that can be problematic for some consumers.

This is not about positioning food as “gentle” or “functional” in a medical sense - it’s about designing ingredients that work across a broader range of digestive tolerances.

Broccoli vs inulin: a formulation reality

Inulin is widely used as a fibre ingredient, but it is also a fructan - a fermentable carbohydrate that some people actively seek to limit.

Whole broccoli already tends to be better tolerated than inulin by many consumers. Importantly, when broccoli is fractionalised into protein and fibre extracts, much of the soluble sugar content is removed as part of processing. The result is not a health claim - it is a composition change:

• higher protein and fibre per gram

• lower simple sugar contribution

• greater formulation control

That distinction matters when designing foods for people with smaller appetites or heightened sensitivity to portion size and ingredient load.

How broccoli protein compares to soy, pea and wheat

Most plant protein in today’s food system comes from three sources: soy, pea and wheat. Each plays an important role - but each also brings trade-offs.

Soy protein

• Highly functional and widely used

• One of the most common food allergens

• Often globally sourced and heavily processed

Pea protein

• Popular as a soy alternative

• Can present taste and texture challenges

• Still associated with digestive discomfort for some consumers

Wheat protein

• Technically versatile

• Contains gluten, excluding a growing consumer segment

Broccoli protein

• Derived from a familiar vegetable crop

• Naturally free from major allergens (including soy, gluten and legumes)

• Produced from under-utilised biomass already grown at scale

Broccoli is not a replacement for every protein system — but it introduces a new option that reduces reliance on allergenic or globally traded isolates, while fitting into existing food formats.

Nutrition density without consumer effort

One of the consistent themes across food innovation is misplaced effort. Too often, progress depends on asking consumers to:

• learn new ingredients

• accept higher prices

• or change habits

UPP’s approach works upstream instead. By reformulating ingredients rather than behaviour:

• manufacturers can increase nutrition per portion

• retailers gain lower-impact sourcing without new categories

• consumers experience familiar food that simply works better

No claims.

No behavioural demands.

No new rules at the table.

Why this matters beyond GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy use

GLP-1 therapy use has accelerated a shift that was already underway.

• Ageing populations.

• Smaller household sizes.

• Changing eating patterns.

All point in the same direction: food systems optimised for volume are becoming less relevant.

The future belongs to ingredients that:

• deliver more nutrition per gram

• integrate cleanly into existing manufacturing

• and remain affordable at scale

Using under-utilised broccoli to produce protein and fibre ingredients is not a trend response - it is a system response.

A quieter kind of progress

UPP does not position its ingredients as solutions in isolation. We design systems where:

• farmers gain value from what was once wasted

• producers gain lower-cost, low-friction ingredients

• consumers gain better food without trade-offs

• and environmental impact is reduced through use, not avoidance

GLP-1 therapies didn’t create the need for better food. They revealed where the system was already thin. What is needed is a system that is:

Better for planters.

Better for producers.

Better for people.

Better for the planet.

Not as a claim, but as a consequence of better design.