GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Sunday released its annual Global Nutrition Monitoring Report, revealing that per-capita consumption of ultra-processed foods declined by 4.1 percent worldwide in 2025 — the first measurable drop since the agency began tracking the metric in 2005.
The report attributes the shift to a convergence of factors: the widespread adoption of GLP-1 receptor agonist medications such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, which suppress appetite and reduce cravings for calorie-dense foods; tightening regulations in the European Union and several Latin American nations requiring front-of-package warning labels; and a sustained cultural movement among Generation Z consumers toward minimally processed, whole-food diets. 'We are witnessing a genuine inflection point in how people relate to food,' said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO's Department of Nutrition and Food Safety.
The decline was most pronounced in the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom, where GLP-1 prescriptions surged past 40 million combined in 2025. Major food manufacturers have already begun to respond. Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Unilever each reported double-digit revenue declines in their snack and confectionery divisions during fourth-quarter earnings calls, while sales of fresh produce, fermented foods, and high-protein whole-food products rose sharply at retailers including Whole Foods, Tesco, and Carrefour.
The cultural dimension of the shift is equally striking. TikTok and Instagram data analyzed by the WHO's partner research teams at Imperial College London showed that hashtags related to 'whole food living' and 'ingredient-conscious eating' generated over 58 billion views in 2025, dwarfing engagement with fast-food and junk-food content for the first time. Celebrity endorsements of clean eating — including high-profile campaigns by athletes and musicians — have further normalized the trend among younger demographics.
Not everyone views the data with unqualified optimism. Public health advocates warn that the GLP-1 effect may be temporary and unevenly distributed, as the medications remain expensive and inaccessible in much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Dr. Carlos Monteiro, the University of São Paulo nutritionist who pioneered the NOVA food classification system, cautioned that the food industry is already reformulating products to appear healthier without meaningfully improving nutritional quality. 'The numbers are encouraging, but the battle is far from won,' he said.
The WHO report recommends that governments accelerate regulatory action, including stricter marketing restrictions on ultra-processed products aimed at children and expanded subsidies for fresh food in low-income communities, to ensure the trend becomes durable and equitable across all regions.