Nearly half of people who drink alcohol and take GLP-1 medications say they drink less since starting the drugs, a survey by Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital researchers found.[1] The effect was larger among people at risk of unhealthy drinking. The study was published in October in JAMA Psychiatry.[1]
Related: FDA Requires a Warning on All GLP-1 Drugs Over a Rare Eye Condition.
What the survey found
Researchers surveyed members of RAND’s American Life Panel in March and April 2026. Of 2,009 people who completed the survey, 368 reported current or past use of a GLP-1, and 242 said they drank alcohol when they started the medication.[1]
Among those drinkers, 44.2%, or 106 people, said they drank less. Most of the rest reported no change, and three said they drank more.[1] Among people who reported at least one episode of heavy drinking in the prior year, 54.1% said they drank less, 40.2% reported no change and 5.7%, or three people, drank more.[1]
Why researchers are cautious
The study screened for potentially unhealthy drinking, not alcohol use disorder, which is a clinical diagnosis. It also did not measure how much people cut back.[1] “We weren’t testing GLP-1s for efficacy in reducing alcohol use,” said co-author Alisa Busch of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, adding that a randomized controlled trial would be needed.[1]
Senior author Haiden Huskamp, a Harvard Medical School professor of health care policy, called the finding that about half of drinkers reported cutting back striking.[1]
The treatment gap
Medications approved to treat alcohol use disorder have existed for decades, but few people use them. Only 3% to 5% of people with a past alcohol use disorder reported taking one in a recent national survey, and only 10% of those seeking treatment received an approved drug.[1] The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism supported the study, and researchers from Brown, Duke and Brandeis universities and RAND collaborated.[1]
More coverage is on our Health page and our GLP-1 drugs coverage.
Sources
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