People with eating disorders are turning to Ozempic

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-06-25 01:00

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People with eating disorders are more likely to be on GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic or Wegovy, according to new research. In a group of over 400 people with eating disorders, almost a third had taken these meds - a rate twice as high as in the general adult population. The researchers say that people with eating disorders are a clinically diverse population who may be using the medicine to maintain their eating disorder through rapid restriction and weight loss. They suggest we need more safety monitoring as the medications are moving from injectables to tablets, and are easily obtained without any medical oversight.

News release

From: JAMA

This cross-sectional study found that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use and misuse were common in a targeted sample of people with eating disorders. The prevalence of lifetime GLP-1 RA use was higher among people with eating disorders than the 15% observed in the general adult population. People with eating disorders are a clinically diverse population who may be consuming GLP-1 RAs in contraindicated ways to maintain eating disorder psychopathology through rapid restriction and weight loss.

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Research JAMA, Web page

Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Louisville, USA

Funder: This work was supported by grant PG05492-57506 from the University of Louisville Joint Pilot Project Program (Drs Peiper and Levinson

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