Overview
- The interim analysis published Wednesday, June 24, 2026, of 436 people with eating disorders found 32.1% reported lifetime GLP‑1 use, 22% reported current use, 10.1% reported misuse, and 9.9% reported using noncommercial compounded products.
- The study defined misuse as behaviors such as taking larger or smaller doses than prescribed, increasing dose early, using the drug longer than prescribed, tampering with injection equipment, or sharing medication without a prescription.
- Use and misuse varied by diagnosis, with the lowest lifetime use just over 10% in classic anorexia nervosa and the highest use observed in atypical anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
- Nearly 10% reporting noncommercial compounded products highlights unregulated supply chains that let people obtain GLP‑1s without medical oversight, raising risks that rapid weight loss will mask returning or worsening eating‑disorder pathology.
- The authors caution the findings are preliminary because the study is cross‑sectional, used nonprobability online recruitment and self‑reporting, and they call for routine screening, closer follow‑up of patients on GLP‑1s, urgent pharmacovigilance and larger longitudinal studies.