Weight-loss drugs called GLP-1 agonists help users shed fat, and with it the negative health effects of obesity. This can have life-changing effects for the people who take them. It is also increasingly affecting the lives of corporate citizens.

Since June 2021, when Wegovy, the first GLP-1 slimming jab, was launched in the US, the market value of WW (formerly Weight Watchers) has crashed 90 per cent. On February 28, Oprah Winfrey said she would leave the dieting company’s board and sell all her shares in order to avoid conflict of interest around her use of GLP-1s. Food giants such as Nestlé are already planning for a future where the drugs dampen demand for sugary snacks. Bosses of consumer-goods companies brought up weight-loss drugs twice as often in the last full set of quarterly earnings calls, in late 2023, as they had in the previous one.