Users of Popular Weight-Loss Medications Report Drinking Less Alcohol

Roughly 44% of adults who were drinking alcohol when they began taking a GLP-1 medication said they drank less afterward, according to a national survey. The proportion was even higher among respondents whose answers suggested they could be at risk for unhealthy drinking.

GLP-1 medicines are prescribed for conditions including type 2 diabetes and obesity. As their use has grown, researchers have heard anecdotal reports of people losing interest in alcohol and wanted to learn how common that experience might be.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital and RAND surveyed adults in the RAND American Life Panel during a recent survey period. More than 2,000 people completed the initial questionnaire, and 368 said they were current or former GLP-1 users.

Among those users, 242 said they drank alcohol when they started the drug. About 44% said they cut back, most of the others reported no change, and three people said they drank more.

The researchers also asked whether participants had consumed a large amount of alcohol on at least one occasion in the prior year. Among people who met that screening threshold, about 54% said they drank less after starting a GLP-1 medication.

That screening question was meant to identify people who may face greater alcohol-related risk. It did not determine whether respondents had alcohol use disorder, which is diagnosed through a broader set of symptoms and the impact of drinking on daily life.

The results add to wider questions about who gains from weight-loss medications and who may be left out.

Published in JAMA Psychiatry, the study helps quantify reports that had often come from individual patients. It suggests that a meaningful share of drinkers noticed a change, while many others saw little difference.

The survey asked whether drinking increased or decreased, but it did not measure how much alcohol intake changed. Cutting one drink a week and stopping heavy drinking would both count as drinking less, even though the health effects could be very different.

The researchers also could not isolate the medication’s effect from other changes happening at the same time. Someone starting a new treatment might alter eating and drinking habits, get more medical support, or decide for other reasons to cut back.

The findings provide a starting point for randomized trials that could track actual changes in alcohol use. Such studies could look at how much drinking changes, whether the effect lasts, and whether the medicines help people with diagnosed alcohol use disorder alongside standard care.

If you are interested in this topic, please read articles about A couple of drinks every day can put your liver in danger, and Association between alcohol and high blood pressure in type 2 diabetes.

For more information, please see articles about Drinking more alcohol may increase your cancer risk, and Weight loss, regardless of method, beneficial for metabolic health in obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Source: Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital.