Alcohol and smoking: The other ways popular weight-loss drug can help your health

We know people are prescribing GLP-1 receptor agonists off label for this purpose, but it’s best to recommend instead that they use FDA-approved treatments that are already available,

he says

Right now, this data points to a fairly consistent picture across animal studies, and now early human findings, of GLP-1’s effect on alcohol-use disorder,

he says

These medications don’t make people stop eating altogether, but reduce the urge to eat so there is appetite reduction and satiety,

he says

We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving,

said Christian Hendershot, lead author of the study from the University of Southern California

This study serves as an initial indication that semaglutide and similar weight-loss drugs may be beneficial for treating alcohol use disorder, at least in the short term,

he said

These data suggest the potential of semaglutide and similar drugs to fill an unmet need for the treatment of alcohol use disorder

Dr Klara Klein, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and study senior author said

We welcome any new research developments to help people with alcohol use disorders

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, who wasn't involved in the study, said

It is important to keep in mind that we need larger randomized clinical trials to confirm these findings,

Leggio said

This is such promising data. And we need more of it,

said study co-author Dr. Klara Klein, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who treats patients with diabetes and obesity

This is a small study, but an exciting one. It provides evidence that semaglutide treatment can reduce alcohol consumption, similar to how it has been shown to reduce food consumption and consequently body weight. The likely mechanistic pathway is by dampening brain cues that prompt an individual to crave both food and alcohol.”

Dr Stephen Burgess of the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the study, said

If you have persistent low-grade nausea and you’re not feeling well, well of course you wouldn’t drink as much,

Drucker said –

They were free to drink as much as they wanted to, up to a limit we set” for safety

Hendershot said

Daniel J. Druckerdr.

It’s one of the first trials that’s a randomized, controlled trial that have said, ‘You know what, there is evidence that people will drink less if they’re taking this medicine,’

Dr. Daniel Drucker, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto who pioneered research on GLP-1, told CNN

Should GLP-1 receptor agonists prove efficacious for both alcohol reduction and smoking cessation,

the researchers concluded

The field in general has been pushing for a reduction goal in clinical trials and the FDA is moving in that direction,

Anton told CNN by email

More research is needed to understand the mechanism(s) of action of these medications in AUD,

Leggio, who’s published research on semaglutide’s ability to reduce alcohol drinking in animals, wrote in an email to CNN

Larger and longer studies in broader populations are needed to fully understand the safety and efficacy in people with alcohol use disorder, but these initial findings are promising,

said Klein, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Two drugs currently approved to reduce alcohol consumption aren't widely used,

Hendershot said in a university news release