Can GLP-1s Treat Emotional Eating and Binge Eating in People With Obesity?

While GLP-1 drugs can alter the chemistry of hunger in powerful ways, they don’t necessarily help with the emotional and psychological factors often found at the root of eating disorders. Some evidence suggests that these medications may be able to help some people binge less, but experts do not yet recommend them as a replacement for traditional mental health therapy, and more research is necessary before healthcare professionals would consider them a standard part of treatment.

GLP-1s, the Brain, and Food Noise

GLP-1 receptor agonists seem to help reduce food noise by reducing hunger signaling and increasing satiety, says Chris Esposito, DO, a bariatric surgeon at Northwell’s Staten Island University Hospital in New York.

GLP-1s and Emotional Eating

“Emotional eating can be multifactorial, but food provides a form of psychological comfort or outlet in times of stress,” Esposito says. “GLP-1s do not relieve stress or treat the underlying stressors.”

It is possible that GLP-1s can help suppress emotional eating: Esposito says that the feeling of fullness they provide could make overeating in response to emotional stress less desirable. However, these medications will not address other psychological factors involved in emotional eating, including anger, fear, or boredom, he says.

“I am not sure GLP-1s can help emotional eaters, and if they do, I fear that it’s only by helping people to restrict more, which is the opposite of what we do in psychotherapy for binge eating and emotional eating,” adds Lauren Muhlheim, PsyD, owner of Eating Disorder Therapy LA in Los Angeles.

GLP-1s and Binge Eating Disorder

GLP-1 medications can’t alleviate symptoms caused by all of these factors, but they may help certain patients by addressing some of the biological causes of hunger.

“For some people with binge-type eating disorders, these medications appear to mitigate some of the biological roots of disordered eating,” says Kim Dennis, MD, founder of the therapy practice SunCloud Health in Chicago and member of the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders’ Scientific Advisory Board.

The study highlights that GLP-1s could be a vital part of a binge eating treatment plan in the future, alongside psychological therapy and social support. However, the study authors highlight that further research is necessary, as it’s unclear whether the increased dietary restraint that GLP-1s may contribute to is helpful for self-control or may instead lead to imbalanced forms of restricted eating, such as skipping meals.

Because of this medication’s limitations in terms of treating the emotional aspects of eating, it also won’t address trauma or body image distortions, for example, if those issues are at the root of a person’s eating disorder, Dr. Dennis adds.

“Further evidence will be necessary before we can see the complete picture, but they show promise as, at the minimum, an adjunct to current therapy,” says Esposito.

When to See a Doctor About Binge Eating or Emotional Eating

If you have a binge eating disorder or display symptoms of emotional eating, it’s important to discuss your symptoms with your provider to determine treatment options beyond any improvements you may see from GLP-1 medications.

Treatment

For those with binge eating disorders, doctors may also prescribe lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (Vyvanse). Although it’s a medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the FDA has approved it to treat moderate to severe binge eating disorder in adults. However, it’s a stimulant that can be habit-forming.

Recognizing Binge Eating Disorder

• Eating an abnormally large amount of food
• Experiencing loss of control
• Eating far more rapidly than normal
• Eating until uncomfortably full
• Consuming large amounts of food when not physically hungry
• Eating alone out of embarrassment for the quantity
• Self-loathing, depression, or guilt after overeating

Doctors don’t consider purging food, vomiting, taking laxatives, or overexercising to be diagnostic criteria for binge-eating disorder, and the behaviors above must occur at least once a week.