Incretin-based therapies for obesity and disordered eating: optimising care in general practice

Disordered eating behaviours like binge eating, emotional eating and compulsive overeating are common in people with obesity. A systematic review of over 94 000 adults seeking obesity treatment found that 14% had a clinically diagnosed binge eating disorder, while self-reported moderate and severe binge eating affected 26% and 12%, respectively. 1 It is important to distinguish these from classic restrictive eating disorders, which are rare (≤1%) in this population, though screening is still crucial. These findings highlight that disordered eating is a significant coexisting condition in obesity care, exacerbating weight gain, psychological distress, poor quality of life and physical health issues such as metabolic dysregulation.2 3