The Tamesis
Candy giant Hershey’s is seeing a boost in sales from an unexpected consumer group: users of GLP-1 diet pills.
Hershey CEO Kirk Tanner said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call Thursday that while appetite suppressants have led customers to reduce their intake of popular snacks, the drugs have also spurred demand for breath fresheners.
Tanner said the company is “seeing strong demand for gum and mint products as the category benefits from tailwinds in functional snacks, including the adoption of GLP-1.” He noted that sales of the company’s Ice Breakers mints and gum brand grew 8% in the quarter.
One possible explanation: In addition to weight loss, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can sometimes cause bad breath as a side effect, according to medical professionals.
“Ozone breath refers to the fishy smell that occurs when you burp or have bad breath,” Dr. Neha Lalani told medical information provider Healthline.
The manufacturers of GLP-1 do not list bad breath (also called halitosis) as a side effect of the drug. Doctors also warned that this was not a clinical diagnosis and that the drug’s effect on patients’ oral hygiene was being studied.
In a clinical trial, Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, found that about 9 percent of people taking the GLP-1 drug experienced “choke,” or hiccups. More than 40% reported nausea and nearly 25% reported vomiting as a side effect of the medication.
