News release

From: The Lancet

eClinicalMedicine: Weight-loss medications may reduce binge eating, but evidence remains limited, most comprehensive review to date suggests

evidemay reduce binge eating and similar behaviours in people living with obesity, suggests the most comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to date, published in eClinicalMedicine journal.

Binge eating disorder affects over 17 million people worldwide. Around two thirds of individuals with binge eating disorder live with overweight or obesity, and binge eating is common among people seeking weight-loss treatment.

Analysing 25 randomised controlled trials involving over 8,000 participants, researchers found that people taking a GLP-1 reported moderate reductions in binge eating severity, loss of control eating, and uncontrolled eating compared with the control (placebo or different treatment). Emotional eating also fell.

GLP-1 treatment was also associated with increases in patients making deliberate efforts to limit what they eat. However, the study could not say if this reflects healthy self-regulation or a more rigid, potentially harmful pattern which could lead to a worsening of binge eating in the future.

The authors highlight that all 25 studies were rated as having high risk or some concerns of bias, and findings varied substantially across trials. They say GLP-1s may offer a promising additional treatment option for people living with both binge eating and obesity but stress they should not be viewed as a standalone solution to binge eating disorder. Additionally, larger, independently funded trials are needed to inform clinical practice.