Introduction:Binge eating is characterised by eating uncontrollably a large amount of food but without purging afterwards. It commonly co-occurs with obesity. Appetite and satiety are influenced by extremely complex central and gut-related hormonal systems which modulate the regulation of food intake. Since glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is an anorexic hormone, we postulate that administration of liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, may influence binge eating among healthy obese participants. 

Methods: 42 obese binge-eating participants were randomised to receive either liraglutide and lifestyle modifications (diet and exercise) or lifestyle modifications alone. Liraglutide was given at 0.6mg once daily for one week, then 1.2mg for second week and 1.8mg from third week onwards. Binge eating behaviour was assessed using the binge eating scale (BES) at baseline and 12 weeks after. The BES is a 16-items questionnaire that addresses behavioural manifestations (e.g.eating large amounts of food) and feelings/cognitions surrounding a binge episode (e.g. guilt, fear of being unable to stop eating). It is scored by adding the individual values for the 16 items. A score of 18 and above indicates the presence of binge eating.

Results: Both groups were of comparable age,weight and BMI. There was a significant drop in BES score following liraglutide treatment, from 20  to 11 (intragroup difference 9, p< 0.001). Although there was a drop in BES score in the control arm, from 22 to 18, it still indicates the presence of binge eating. There was a significant difference in BES score between the two groups after 12 weeks (intergroup difference 7, p= 0.02). On liraglutide, there was also a significant decrease in weight and BMI (p<0.05) while control arm shown no significant change.

Conclusion: Liraglutide produced a significant improvement in binge eating behaviour as evidenced by the drop in BES score in healthy obese participants.