Emerging evidence suggests some people with eating disorders are misusing weight-loss drugs.

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GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are one of the biggest biotech breakthroughs of the last decade. But to some clinical psychologists, they can represent something more sinister—a potential trigger for eating disorders.

A new report suggests that the global incidence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa shot up between 1990 and 2023—by a whopping 71%. By 2023, there were an estimated 18.1 million people living with one of these two disorders.

What’s worse is that the number is likely to be much higher than that once we factor in other eating disorders. And, disturbingly, those in the field are already starting to see GLP-1 weight-loss drugs exacerbating the issue.

Cheri Levinson is a clinical psychologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky who has specialized in eating disorders for almost 20 years.…