Peter Rahal saw the pattern before. New year, new diet. Keto one January. Paleo the next. This year brought something else. Nothing.
“My general view on food trends is that because of GLP-1s, diet trends are over,” Rahal told Fortune. “It’s really impactful on food trends.”
Rahal built RXBar and sold it to Kellogg’s for $600 million. He launched David Protein in 2024 with high-protein bars and later ice cream. The brand now sits in 16,000 stores. It expects $300 million in revenue this year. His latest read on the market comes from watching what GLP-1 users actually buy.
About 10 percent of the U.S. population has taken one of these drugs. The market for them could hit $82 billion this year, Fortune reported, citing Morgan Stanley. One in eight adults uses them now, according to a KFF Health Tracking Poll cited by CNBC. The numbers keep climbing.
Users eat less. They snack less. They spend less at the grocery store. Adults on these medications consume 21 percent fewer calories and cut grocery bills by nearly a third, KPMG data cited in CNBC shows. JPMorgan estimates the shift could erase $30 billion to $55 billion in annual food and beverage sales by 2030.
WeightWatchers filed for bankruptcy. It later partnered with GLP-1 makers. Traditional diet programs lost their pull. “No one’s turning to a diet as an intervention for weight loss or body composition change. Everyone’s going to GLP-1s,” Rahal said in the Fortune interview.
Protein demand surges as muscle loss fears mount
But the drugs create a new problem. Appetite drops sharply. So does calorie intake. Clinical trials show people lose 25 to 40 percent of their total weight as lean mass, according to David Protein’s own analysis of the data on its site. The company cites studies showing this loss appears largely adaptive to rapid weight reduction rather than a unique drug effect. Still, the risk feels real.
Users need more protein. Not just any amount. Evidence points to 1.2 to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. For someone with an adjusted body weight around 85 kilograms, that means 102 to 170 grams a day. Spread across meals, 25 to 40 grams each time. High-quality sources matter. Complete amino acid profiles help. Resistance training three to five days a week helps more.
One 2025 case series tracked three patients. They lost 13 to 33 percent of their body weight. Lean soft tissue changes ranged from negative 6.9 percent to positive 5.8 percent. A separate study of 200 adults combined the drugs with resistance training. Average weight loss hit 13 percent. Muscle loss stayed at 3 percent. Men lost 1.2 percent muscle. Women lost 3 percent. The numbers prove interventions work.
Rahal calls the resulting rush “protein capitalism.” Shelves fill with protein popcorn from Khloé Kardashian’s brand. Starbucks adds whey protein cold foam. David Protein pushes its 28-gram bars for moments when appetite runs too low for whole food. Other companies follow. Nestlé launched Vital Pursuit, a line of frozen meals aimed at this group. Conagra added “GLP-1 friendly” badges to select Healthy Choice products, GreyB noted in recent coverage.
The supply chain felt it immediately. High-protein whey concentrate prices jumped 40 percent in recent months, per U.S. Department of Agriculture data reported in Fortune. David’s whey cost rose from $7 per pound to nearly $12. Some suppliers sold out. Kathleen Wolfley, vice president at agriculture consultancy Ever.Ag Insights, told Fortune, “Folks that are supplementing with GLP-1s for weight loss and for other health maintenance, they need that additional protein to maintain muscle mass and feel good about themselves. So I think that there’s an element of very, very firm demand in the market.”
And. The demand shows no sign of fading. Real-world data from Italy, covered in a April 2026 EurekAlert release, found GLP-1 users averaged just 0.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Eighty-eight percent fell below national guidelines. Non-users hit 0.7 grams. Both groups struggle, but the drugs make hitting targets harder when total food intake drops to around 1,100 calories a day.
Restaurants and packaged food giants raced to respond. PepsiCo rolled out protein-packed Doritos, relaunched Gatorade with better alignment, and added fiber to SunChips and Smartfood popcorn. Its CEO, Ramon Laguarta, told analysts there are “more opportunities than threats,” as quoted in CNBC. Nestlé called its GLP-1 push “a big initiative,” according to CEO Marty Thompson in the same report. Chipotle introduced grab-and-go protein cups. Olive Garden shrank portions. J&J Snack Foods added protein to pretzels and launched mini Italian ice pops with hydration formulas.
Don K. Johnson, principal at EY-Parthenon, captured the shift. “Whether it is labeling as GLP-1 friendly, decreasing the serving size, emphasizing protein content, or even when you shift over to the beverage world, because hydration is certainly a concern, there are a number of players that are starting to react to this.” Dana Baggett, executive director of restaurant client strategy at RRD, added that the focus on less sugar, higher protein, and fiber represents “an amazing opportunity for brands.” She called it a trend “that’s not going away.”
Yet Rahal stays cautious. “The strategy is just, like, survive versus changing anything,” he said. He knows the next wave after protein could prove difficult to forecast. “So then what’s next is really hard to predict.”
Recent research reinforces the uncertainty. A ScienceDirect paper from June 2026 examines how GLP-1 use reshapes food demand, particularly for protein. Ingredion’s January 2026 analysis highlights the need for nutrient-dense options in smaller portions. Cleveland Clinic guidance stresses lean proteins, fiber, and non-starchy vegetables to counter side effects and preserve muscle. No single diet replaces the old fads. Instead, a pragmatic, protein-first approach spreads across users who treat the drugs as one tool among many.
Conversations on X reflect the same mix. Users report eating more protein while cutting soda and fast food. Some note the drugs alone don’t suffice. Others debate whether the protein surge creates lasting branded demand or just temporary commodity pressure. One investor comment captured the nuance: the real value may lie in sustained behavior change rather than whey prices alone.
David Protein positions itself in the middle of this transition. Its bars deliver 28 grams in a format that works when hunger fades. The brand’s blog lays out the exact math and training advice. It sells the practical path. Not a fad. Not a miracle. Just the numbers that match what clinical data and real users show.
Food companies bet billions on this new reality. They reformulate, relabel, and resize. They watch whey costs and consumer wallets with equal attention. The old diet cycle broke. Proteinmaxxing filled the gap. What follows proteinmaxxing remains anyone’s guess. But for now the shelves, the prices, and the product pipelines all point one direction. More protein. Smaller portions. Fewer trends. Just results.
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