Semaglutide and Tirzepatide reduce alcohol consumption in individuals with obesity.

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) contributes significantly to global mortality. GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1) and GLP-1/GIP (Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide) agonists, FDA-approved for managing type 2 diabetes and obesity, where the former has shown to effectively reduce the consumption of alcohol in animal models but no reports exist on the latter. In this report, we conducted two studies. In the first study, we conducted an analysis of abundant social media texts. Specifically, a machine-learning based attribution mapping of ~ 68,250 posts related to GLP-1 or GLP-1/GIP agonists on the Reddit platform. Secondly, we recruited participants (n = 153; current alcohol drinkers; BMI ≥ 30) who self-reported either taking Semaglutide (GLP-1 agonist), Tirzepatide (the GLP-1/GIP combination) for ≥ 30 days or, as a control group; no medication to manage diabetes or weight loss for a within and between subject remote study. In the social media study, we report 8 major themes including effects of medications (30%); diabetes (21%); and Weight loss and obesity (19%). Among the alcohol-related posts (n = 1580), 71% were identified as craving reduction, decreased desire to drink, and other negative effects. In the remote study, we observe a significantly lower self-reported intake of alcohol, drinks per drinking episode, binge drinking odds, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, and stimulating, and sedative effects in the Semaglutide or Tirzepatide group when compared to prior to starting medication timepoint (within-subjects) and the control group (between-subjects). In summary, we provide initial real-world evidence of reduced alcohol consumption in people with obesity taking Semaglutide or Tirzepatide medications, suggesting potential efficacy for treatment in AUD comorbid with obesity.

The impact of caloric availability on eating behavior and ultra-processed food reward.

The food environment has changed rapidly and dramatically in the last 50 years. While industrial food processing has increased the safety and stability of the food supply, a rapid expansion in the scope and scale of food processing in the 1980's has resulted in a market dominated by ultra-processed foods. Here, we use the NOVA definition of category 4 ultra-processed foods (UPFs) as they make up around 58% of total calories consumed in the US and 66% of calories in US children. UPFs are formulated from ingredients with no or infrequent culinary use, contain additives, and have a long shelf-life, spending long periods in contact with packaging materials, allowing for the absorption of compounds from those materials. The full implications of this dietary shift to UPFs on human health and disease outcomes are difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. However, UPF consumption is linked with various forms of cancer, increased cardiovascular disease, and increased all-cause mortality. Understanding food choice is, therefore, a critical problem in health research. Although many factors influence food choice, here we focus on the properties of the foods themselves. UPFs are generally treated as food, not as the highly refined, industrialized substances that they are, whose properties and components must be studied. Here, we examine one property of UPFs, that they deliver useable calories rapidly as a potential factor driving UPF overconsumption. First, we explore evidence that UPFs deliver calories more rapidly. Next, we examine the role of the gut-brain axis and its interplay with canonical reward systems, and last, we describe how speed affects both basic learning processes and drugs of abuse.