New research out of the University of Pennsylvania has helped identify how major weight-loss drugs suppress so-called “food noise” in the brain.
“Food noise” is a term for constant thoughts about eating that sometimes lead to binge eating and other forms of disordered eating. The study, published Tuesday, shows how tirzepatide, a GLP-1 drug sold under the brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound, helps quiet the signals to the brain’s reward center that cause food noise.
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This research could be a boon to the 3 million Americans who have binge eating disorder. The disorder is often linked to obesity, a chronic condition that can lead to diabetes, heart disease and other severe, chronic conditions. About 60% of people with obesity report experiencing “food noise,” previous research shows.
“Developing new ways to treat these patients is of the utmost importance,” Dr. Casey H. Halpern, a senior author of the study and the head of Penn’s Division of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, said in a news release.
The researchers were not aiming to study tirzepatide. They were running a clinical trial about how deep brain stimulation reduces the brain signals that result in compulsive eating in people who have not found weight-loss success through medication, bariatric surgery and other options. Deep brain stimulation requires surgically implanting electrodes in the brain to send low-frequency electronic currents to the reward center.
But one of the participants in the study was taking tirzepatide to manage type 2 diabetes. As a result, the researchers were also able to monitor how the medication affects brain signals involved in binge eating.
“Brain surgery to implant the electrodes is invasive, and thus it is extremely rare to study human brain activity in this way,” Halpern said. “Research fuels more research; This participant was already taking tirzepatide when she enrolled in the trial, but before any stimulation was delivered, giving us a unique opportunity to make foundational observations about how the drug alters brain signals.”
Tracking the brain signals in real time, the researchers found that the patient’s food noise diminished. Several other participants who were not on tirzepatide continued to experience constant thoughts and cravings for food.
But the impact of tirzepatide was temporary. After five months, the patient’s brain signaling was common to people with obesity. The patient also reported a resurgence of food noise.
Nevertheless, the results are promising, researchers said.
“These insights should inspire further research into developing a treatment better tailored to the impulsivity traits of obesity and related eating disorders that is safe and long-lasting,” said Wonkyung Choi, a PhD candidate in Halpern’s lab.