A fascinating new study has revealed that some drugs commonly used to treat obesity have side effects of reducing alcohol craving and consumption.
It’s the middle of ‘dry January’, which means that millions of people around the world are forgoing alcohol for the rest of the month. Yet as alcohol consumption remains firmly in the headlines, a new study has found a bizarre way that people are reducing how much beer, wine, and spirits they drink.
Drugs used to treat obesity reduce alcohol cravings and consumption
A new study in Nature Scientific Reports has claimed that two drugs commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity have surprising side effects of reducing how much alcohol someone craves and, subsequently, drinks.
Social media platform Reddit is credited with first uncovering this unusual link, with researchers coming across users detailing their experiences taking ‘semaglutide’ and ‘tirzepatide’ – two drugs that reduce blood sugar and energy intake by mimicking the hormones released after eating.
In a large number of posts, over 70%, users were reporting that they had started drinking notably less alcohol and that their cravings for liquor dropped significantly when on the medication.
“Did scientists accidentally invent an anti-addiction drug?” read one post, with another adding “I don’t know if this is a side effect but … Mounjaro makes me drink less!!!!!”
Scientists from Virginia Tech University then took those social media posts and ran a survey in which they analyzed over 33,000 posts from almost 15,000 unique accounts discussing the various side effects.
They then took this data into the real world and analyzed the alcohol consumption of 153 adults who were taking these type 2 diabetes and obesity-treating medications.
“Participants reported drinking less, experienced fewer effects of alcohol when they did drink it, and decreased odds of binge drinking,” explained co-author of the paper Alexandra DiFeliceantonio.
Alcohol remains one of the biggest killers in the United States
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Consumption, alcohol consumption leads to the deaths of more than 140,000 people every year in the United States.
This makes alcohol one of the leading preventable causes of death in the US, behind tobacco, poor diet and physical inactivity, and illegal drugs.
Warren Bickel, a research professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, explained how, from their study, “These findings add to a growing literature that these medications may curb dangerous drinking habits.”
“Although evidence supporting the use of these medications for alcohol use disorder is growing, the field still needs to learn considerably more about them, particularly in identifying the underlying mechanisms. We plan to contribute to that effort.”
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If you’ve been affected by this story, you can contact American Addiction Centers on (877) 686-7688 or Talk To Frank on 0300 123 6600 in the UK.