A team of researchers from Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech discovered that the medicine known as GLP-1RA —commonly used to treat diabetes type 2 and promote weight loss—could have an unexpected effect: reducing the physiological impact of alcohol and the desire to drink.

The study, led by Fatima Quddos, Alexandra G. DiFeliceantonio and the late researcher Warren K. Bickel, was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports in September 2025. The research focused on determining how these drugs alter the way the body absorbs and reacts to alcohol.

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The team recruited 20 obese participants, half of whom took medications GLP-1 (such as semaglutide, liraglutide or tirzepatide) and the other half do not. They all consumed a quantity of alcohol controlled to reach an estimated concentration of 0.08 g/dl in blood.

The results were clear: people using GLP-1 had a slower rise in blood pressure. breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) and reported feeling less drunk during the first 20 minutes of the test. According to the authors, this difference was not due to nausea or discomfort, but rather because the drugs slow gastric emptying, thus delaying absorption of alcohol in the intestine.

Medications used for weight loss help reduce the desire to drink alcohol

In addition to the lower initial intoxication, the volunteers under treatment with GLP-1 showed less desire to continue drinking. Although the sample was small, the researchers suggest that these medications could serve as a complementary tool to reduce alcohol consumptioneven among people who do not suffer from dependency disorders.

Previous studies had already shown similar results: patients treated with semaglutide or exenatide reduced their consumption and binge drinking episodes. This new work reinforces the hypothesis that the GLP-1 could modulate both the appetite for food as for alcohol.

The medication continues to be studied to see its effectiveness against alcohol consumption.

The authors warn that this is a preliminary study, with a limited number of participants, so they recommend conducting larger, controlled clinical trials to confirm the findings. However, the work provides solid evidence that the effects of GLP-1 go beyond metabolic control, opening the door to their possible use in therapies for depression disorder. alcohol consumption.

“Our data suggest that GLP-1 can reduce the intake of alcohol through peripheral mechanisms”, conclude the researchers from Virginia Tech.