There is risk of people feeling like 'meh' on weight loss medications

Weight loss medications don’t just make people less hungry but also influence how the brain processes reward, motivation and pleasure. 

As per multiple reports, some people, who have been on GLP-1 (Glucagon-like -peptide) drugs, have expressed a feeling of dullness- a flattening of emotions and reduced desire towards certain foods and pleasurable activities.

However, no causal relationship between these medications and mood disorders has been established or documented. 

While these peptides are found to affect the dopamine system of the brain and help people get off addictions, scientists are trying to understand if they are meddling with motivation centers in the brain, making people demotivated towards goals and desires.

The flattening of mood

Weight loss medications have been found to blunt unhelpful desires like wanting ultra-processed food, drinking alcohol or gaming. They are also found to tune down the intrusive thoughts about food, popularly called the food noise, said the American Psychological Association.

An article published in the Washington Post reiterated experiences of people who weren’t enjoying eating a specific kind of cake or enjoying playing a sport, activities they had taken pleasure in all their lives.

Many of them described it as trying to be excited about something but weren’t fully able to connect to it.

There could be multiple reasons behind this dullness, experts have said.

Hunger as both a need and desire 

GLP-1 drugs mimic an incretin hormone in the body that stimulates the release of insulin from the pancreatic cells and is responsible for increasing the sensation of satiety and decreasing appetite.

Satiety is not a function of the gut alone and the brain also has a role to play in it, experts have said.

In fact, hunger has both a need-based and reward-based component to it.

The brain’s reward system perpetuates processes that are important for survival like eating and reproduction. It does it by releasing dopamine which causes people to feel pleasure, encouraging the body to engage in it.

With intake of GLP-1 drugs, there is reduction in the release of dopamine. Hence, there is loss of pleasure associated with food.

As per a study, obese people taste less intensely and have a desire for sweet and energy rich food.

On weight loss medications, the same person undergoes changes with their taste palate, having more neutral feelings towards energy dense foods, said an article published in the Endocrine Society.

Speaking to DH, Dr. Monika Sharma, a senior endocrinologist at Aakash Healthcare (Dwarka) said: “A kind of sensory deprivation is associated with these weight loss drugs. Although, there is no evidence to show that they actually reduce the physiological capacity to taste or smell but they might be changing the way the brain reacts to these stimuli.”

As per some experts, even if the desire for food is present, there could be a quicker satisfaction. 

Also, as per reports, these medicines delay gastric emptying which causes the food to remain in the gastric cavity for longer periods of time. This could cause it to ferment inside it, releasing a typical GLP-1 related bad breath. However, this experience is anecdotal and not based on evidence.

This sudden drop in desire to eat tempting food can make life look duller than usual.

However, as per the Guardian, there are instances of people losing interest in sexual activities or losing motivation for pleasurable activities.

This raises concerns over the overlapping effects of these medications in regulating pleasure and motivation.