Obsessive, intrusive thoughts about eating – known as food noise – can be quieted through semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic, new research has revealed, further boosting the effectiveness of these treatments for weight loss.
These drugs are known as receptor agonists, triggering cell responses to mimic the body's natural glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, and reduce appetite and slow digestion. We already know that brain signaling, as well as the gut and other organs, play a part in this process.
At the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna, Austria, researchers from semaglutide developer Novo Nordisk and market research firm Market Track presented findings on the brain effects of semaglutide and how that influences food noise.
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They surveyed 550 people in the US who were taking semaglutide for weight loss. The average age across the group was 53, and most participants were female. The majority (81 percent) had been taking semaglutide for at least four months.
The findings were significant: While 62 percent reported that prior to treatment they had experienced constant thoughts about food, only 16 percent said they currently experienced these thoughts. The number who reported spending too much time thinking about food was also down, from 63 percent to 15 percent.
While different questions used different semantics, the drops were consistent: from 53 percent to 15 percent for those who had uncontrollable food thoughts, from 60 percent to 20 percent for those whose food thoughts had negative effects, and from 47 percent to 15 percent for those whose food thoughts distracted them from everyday life.
Those are impressive figures, and the respondents also reported improvements in mental health, self-confidence, and the development of healthier habits.
Food noise can be a real hindrance to weight loss, even for those taking medication for it: these thoughts can make it more difficult to stick to plans for healthy eating or regular exercise, as well as being detrimental to overall well-being.
More data will be needed to explore these results, however: they don't show direct cause and effect, they rely on retrospective self-reporting rather than scientific tests, and they're yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal.
The findings link to another recent study by researchers in Austria and Germany. They surveyed 411 adults taking semaglutide and similar drugs for weight loss.
There were some intriguing discoveries on brain signaling in that study too, along with the weight loss that usually comes with these drugs. More than 60% of the participants reported a reduction in their food cravings, and over half reported a decrease in their appetite.
What's more, around a fifth of the participants said sweet and salty foods had started tasting more intense. Those who said sweet foods tasted sweeter were 85 percent more likely to report a reduction in cravings.
"These drugs act not only in the gut and brain areas that control hunger but also on taste bud cells and brain regions that process taste and reward," explains endocrinologist Othmar Moser, of the University of Bayreuth in Germany, who led the published research.
"This means they can subtly change how strong flavors, like sweetness or saltiness, are perceived. This, in turn, may affect appetite."
The first study has been presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Vienna, Austria; the second has been published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.