GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy are changing how Americans eat, and that has big implications for the dairy industry.

In this episode of The Milk Check, host Ted Jacoby III welcomes Paul Ziemnisky, leader of nutrition and industry growth platforms at Dairy Management Inc., and Dr. Chris Cifelli, vice president of nutrition research for the National Dairy Council.

Together with the Jacoby team, they unpack what GLP-1 appetite-suppressing drugs mean for dairy demand, and how our industry can win. We cover:

• How GLP-1s suppress hunger and how dairy’s fat + protein combo supports satiety


• How protein quality matters more than ever, and why dairy still leads the pack


• How R&D teams are turning classic dairy products into high-protein, low-sugar solutions

From gut health to GLP-1 support, this episode dives deep into one of the most important trends shaping dairy today. Join us for The Milk Check episode 81: The Ozempic and GLP-1 shockwave hitting U.S. dairy.

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Intro with music:

Welcome to the Milk Check, a podcast from T.C. Jacoby & Co, where we share market insights and analysis with dairy farmers in mind.

Ted Jacoby III:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Milk Check. Excited to be here today. In addition to our usual suspects, Josh White, Mike Brown, and my brother guest, Jacoby. We’ve got two special guests today. We have Paul Ziemnisky, leader for nutrition and product science, technology, innovation and industry growth platforms at Dairy Management Inc. Again, we have Dr. Chris Cifelli, vice president of nutrition research for the National Dairy Council. Guys, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for taking time out of your busy days to talk about GLP-1s and how it’s affecting the dairy industry. We really appreciate it. What are GLP-1s and why are they good for dairy?

Dr. Chris Cifelli:

I’ll start with what they are and then Paul can talk about the consumer point of view. One of the key things whenever we eat food is that feeling of satiety, the feeling of fullness we get during a meal and then the satiation that occurs between meals until we get those body cues again that we’re hungry and we want to eat. Unfortunately, in the environment we’re in with stress and different factors, our body is a lot off schedule, so we tend to eat a lot more than we may need to on a daily basis.

What GLP’s are, glucagon like peptide is the official name, it’s an appetite suppressant. So, when you eat and especially when you eat fat and protein, the body will release GLP-1 naturally, and that’s what starts making you feel full. What these pharmaceuticals are, are ways to keep the levels of GLP-1 up in your body so you feel less hungry throughout the day more naturally. And what that’s going to do is you’re not going to snack quite as much. You’re not going to have those cravings maybe for sweet salty snacks during the day. But with that appetite suppressant, it means that every calorie really then matters when you’re eating throughout the day, and that’s really where dairy can win.

Paul Ziemnisky:

To build on that, what it means for dairy is, I think Chris used two magic words, fat and protein. I think fat’s been vilified since this early ’70s, late ’60s, and we’ve put a lot of effort in investment in proving the value of fat, especially dairy fats. I think you’re going to see in the next six months, the acceleration of an acceptance of fat into things like the dietary guidelines and other uses. And the protein side of the equation, we’ve got the highest quality protein by far. We’ve got science behind the highest quality proteins and the efficacy of that.

And then by the way, consumers, when they purchase anything, taste is number one factor. So, when you look at taste, price, value, health and wellness, we deliver on all those three sweet spots for that consumer. And so, you see things like yogurt on fire because of that, because they can have yogurt and they enjoy the taste and it’s got all those signs behind it with gut health and immunity. You see things emerging like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is fermented, cheese is fermented, and I think we under market and under leverage that.

Chris and I have been on the road working with our cheese peers talking about let’s play up the protein and the fermentation, and some of the health benefits of that to drive new occasions. Then you see other things popping too in the space like creamers, which are adjacent to the GLP piece, but that fat in the keto and that satiety. And so, we’ve been working to dust off the decades of science to actually build a health and wellness playbook for the industry to use how to talk about these in a modern way with consumers. The great thing in the playbook is we actually tie the messaging and claims to science evidence, and so this is all the way approved through the USDA. So, we’re packaging out if you want to talk about weight management, you want to talk about performance, you want to talk about gut health, we’ve done quad studies with consumers at the different age cohorts. So, if you are a parent with a two-year-old, we’ve done studies with them.

If you’re talking to a boomer, here’s how you talk about dairy at these different needs states and moments. And so, worth this fulcrum where it all adds up to where about 60 plus purchase decisions at the home, is a health and wellness decision. And just to dollarize that for our farmers, that’s $350 billion being spent in these high priority areas. And our share in those $350 billion are small today. But if we get three share points of these spaces, that’s the size of the yogurt category today. So, we can double the yogurt category. And the great example of that is look at the probiotic sodas. They launched. They don’t have any science like we do on yogurt. But they’re the $2 billion category in five years, yet kefir’s only $250 million. Yogurt’s sitting around $6.5 billion. So, there’s a lot of significant upside us playing in some of these spaces and GLP’s one of those spaces. There’s even a bigger macro in the health and wellness space opportunity.

Ted Jacoby III:

Is protein really the biggest driver behind some of those health and wellness spaces that we want dairy to become a bigger part of? And why protein? You mentioned, Paul, when you were talking, he goes, “We’ve got the best protein.” Why is dairy the best protein?

Paul Ziemnisky:

I’ll let Chris answer the why and I’ll talk to the spaces if that’s okay, Ted. These spaces, when you start to carve out that $350 billion, you’ve got physical, athletic performance, sustained energy, childhood growth and nutrition, then you start to keep going around these areas of weight management. Those are $50 billion segments right there, and protein is the key driver. When you look at muscle growth, performance, protein is essential to fueling the growth. Then you get into the gen Y and millennials are recognizing they need that protein for that sustained energy. So, that’s where you’re seeing the growth of creamers and all this. They’re pounding it. They’re not drinking coffee, they’re drinking dairy with coffee.

And so, we’re seeing these other spaces of how do they stay satiety, energized, healthy. And then as you start to even age out, the boomers are recognizing they’ve got the most disposable income. You’ve got this big group of 80 million people, they’re trying to stay healthy. And so, you’ve got pre-aging occurring from the millennials and gen X, who don’t want to get to the point where they’re fracture risk and all that, so they’re consuming more protein because they’re seeing what’s happening to their parents. And then you’ve got the parents who are seeing what’s happening to their friends. And so, you look across all these age cohorts, proteins is this key driver for different needs states of each of these age cohorts. And Chris can talk through the science now.

Dr. Chris Cifelli:

From a nutrition point of view, I grew up building with Legos, so yeah, all these different pieces. For protein, there’s 20 amino acids, nine of which are essential, and dairy has all those. So, whey and casein are both complete proteins, so they have all the essential amino acids we need and they have them in the right proportions to support muscle growth and development, and all the other functions that protein do in the body. When it’s packaged, whether you’re talking milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese or just isolates, it’s very bioavailable, so you’re not worried about any digestibility issues. You’re not worried about it being outcompeted by other nutrients. Our body takes it in.

What makes dairy really unique is you have the whey and the casein. So, whey being very fast acting, it’s absorbed very quickly. It’s great for muscle recovery after exercise. Whereas casein, a little higher in tryptophan, a little slower digestion, so you’ll feel a little fuller, but then at the same time a great protein before bed because of the tryptophan may help you sleep and recover overnight. There’s all this unique layering to it that really sets it apart from other sources of protein, even ones like egg that also have a lot of amino acids in them as well.

Ted Jacoby III:

How many different proteins are in milk?

Dr. Chris Cifelli:

Just the two main classes of whey and casein, and then a lot of different peptides and other things in there. But generally speaki