Medications for obesity could benefit the environment and food security

A new generation of medications for obesity could transform the global food system. Whilst recent research has explored effects of these medications on health, potential wider impacts on global food demand and the environment remain unstudied. We apply a global food system model to quantify possible effects of appetite suppression on global food demand, food prices, and land use. We find reducing overconsumption lowers average food prices, improves affordability in undernourished regions, and increases natural land areas. These results clearly demonstrate how the uptake of medications for obesity could benefit global food security and biodiversity conservation. However, we also find meat and sugar consumption increase in the average global diet in response to lower prices, potentially offsetting some health benefits of obesity reduction. This finding emphasises the importance of concurrent policies and regulations to promote sustainable, healthy diets.