The news: Telehealth company Ro is betting a new “food noise” assessment tool will give its patients and pharma partners new data insights for obesity care.

Ro markets GLP-1 prescription telehealth and support services and developed the scale with obesity clinicians and researchers. It uses a short questionnaire to measure its patients’ food noise level. Ro is also licensing the tool to pharma companies for use in clinical trials.

What it means: The term food noise is relatively new in obesity treatment, rising alongside new GLP-1 prescription drug treatments.

• Food noise refers to constant, obsessive and intrusive thoughts about eating irrespective of hunger.
• Before starting Wegovy, 62% of patients said they experienced constant thoughts about food throughout the day. That dropped to 16% while on the medicine, per a Novo Nordisk survey of 550 US adults on the drug for at least four months.

Weight Watchers, which also offers GLP-1 telehealth services, developed its own food noise questionnaire and scale along with researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Why it matters: Wegovy and Zepbound are the first two drugs in an emerging prescription market for obesity aimed at treating the condition as a disease instead of a self-control problem.

• Just 12% of people who are overweight or obese had heard of food noise, per a Weight Watchers and STOP Obesity Alliance study in 2023.
• More than 40% of US adults, or about 100 million, meet the diagnostic criteria of a body mass index of 30 or higher for obesity, according to the CDC.

Recommendations for marketers: As the term food noise gains recognition in consumer health, obesity and weight management marketers can shape early understanding and trust. Clear, evidence-based education campaigns that define food noise as a measurable symptom and not a failure of willpower can reduce the stigma patients sometimes feel around obesity and make them more confident to seek weight loss solutions. Marketers should lean into social, influencer, and healthcare provider channels to explain the science in relatable terms and encourage patients to have open conversations with family, friends, and their doctors.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Not a subscriber? Click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.