TOPLINE

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials suggested that GLP-1s reduced binge eating symptoms and related behaviors — including loss-of-control eating and disinhibited eating — and emotional eating among participants living with overweight or obesity.

METHODOLOGY

• GLP-1s, commonly used for weight loss and treating type 2 diabetes, may also reduce binge eating. However, previous reviews and meta-analyses were limited — often small, narrative, or mixed in design, and rarely focused on core binge eating outcomes.
• Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing any GLP-1 (or dual or triple GLP-1-based agonist) with placebo, an active drug, or usual care in participants of any age or diabetes status; all included trials enrolled individuals with overweight or obesity.
• They searched popular databases for trials published from January 2005 to April 2026 and included 25 trials conducted across 12 countries; 10 trials included participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, and only three trials actively recruited participants with diagnosed binge eating disorder.
• The trials comprised 8069 participants (median of mean ages across studies, 47.3 years; 67.5% women among studies reporting sex; median baseline BMI, 35.8), with treatment durations ranging from 6 to 104 weeks; 24 trials were included in the meta-analysis.
• Primary outcomes included validated measures of binge eating severity, disinhibited eating, and loss-of-control eating.

TAKEAWAY

• Compared with the control groups, participants who received GLP-1s showed small-to-moderate reductions in binge eating severity (standardized mean difference [SMD], -0.23; 95% CI, -0.36 to -0.10; nine studies), loss-of-control eating (MD, -18.38; 95% CI, -23.34 to -13.43; five studies), and eating disinhibition (SMD, -0.54; 95% CI, -0.90 to -0.18; 13 studies).
• Emotional eating was moderately reduced with GLP-1 treatment than with control groups (SMD, -0.30; 95% CI, -0.51 to -0.09; four studies), while cognitive and dietary restraint increased (SMD, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.17-0.44; 13 studies).
• Effect sizes were numerically larger in the three trials that specifically enrolled participants with binge eating disorder and/or directly targeted binge eating, but the difference was not statistically significant (interaction P = .10).
• All 25 studies were rated as having high risk for bias or some concerns, with substantial heterogeneity across studies.

IN PRACTICE

“Our findings suggest that GLP-1s may be a promising adjunctive pharmacotherapy for individuals living with binge eating symptoms and obesity,” the authors of the study wrote.

“While pharmacological treatments may help regulate appetite and reduce loss-of-control eating, sustainable recovery is likely to depend on concurrent psychological therapies, social support, and policies addressing wider determinants of disordered eating, including societal norms and structural weight bias,” they added.

SOURCE

The study was led by Isobel Emptage, University College London, London, England. It was published online in eClinicalMedicine.

LIMITATIONS

The small number of trials, together with differences in outcome measures, follow-up times, and participant characteristics, limited the ability to run detailed subgroup or dose-response analyses. Data for some studies had to be extracted from published figures, adding uncertainty. Most participants were middle-aged White adults, and trials generally excluded participants with severe obesity or co-occurring mental health conditions.

DISCLOSURES

The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Foundation. One author disclosed institutional research funding from Novo Nordisk, another disclosed royalties from Pearson Education Inc. and consultancy fees from OrbiMed, and a third disclosed involvement in a trial funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.