No matter how generally beneficial or safe a drug is, it can be misused. A study out today, for instance, shows that people with eating disorders are taking GLP-1 medications like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) in ways they shouldn’t be. Researchers at the University of Louisville and others looked at a large sample of people with eating disorders. Roughly a third reported having used GLP-1s in their lifetime—a much higher rate than the general public—while some have openly misused them. “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,” they wrote in their paper, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.
GLP-1s and eating disorders GLP-1s have revolutionized the treatment of obesity (and type 2 diabetes) in recent years, allowing people with obesity to reliably lose more weight than they likely would with lifestyle changes alone. Given these effects, though, it might seem obvious that some people who aren’t obese but are desperate to lose weight, such as those with eating disorders, would try to take GLP-1s as well. Though all GLP-1s require a prescription, people have been able to obtain compounded or otherwise unregulated versions of these drugs with relative ease.
