Can Psychedelics Help You Lose Weight?

Can Psychedelics Help You Win the Battle of the Bulge?

Obesity is a serious problem.

It all started in the 1960s when the obesity epidemic hit the world, most notably in the United States. The slightest excess weight can have serious health consequences for both children and adults: it significantly increases the risk of developing dangerous diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and many more.

Today we live in a society that is more health conscious than ever. People have fought back the obesity epidemic despite the proliferation of junk food and fast food; more are committed to healthy lifestyles, exercise more and eat smart. However, there are still millions of people who struggle with their relationship with food. For example, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is one of the most common eating disorders; it excels at consuming ridiculously large amounts of food in a short period of time. Most people with BES feel like they have absolutely no control over how much they eat; It can also be termed as emotional eating as one tends to overeat especially when one is sad, angry, stressed or even happy.

Changing your habits is a lot easier said than done – others just find bad habits too difficult to let go because they are so ingrained in their brains. In doing so, they are putting their health at risk.

Psychedelics already have a solid and growing body of evidence that they can help the brain form new neural pathways necessary to let go of bad habits, depressive memories, and event triggering. This is why it is so effective for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and many other mental illnesses.

But studies suggest that psychedelics can also help with obesity.

In March 2022, NeonMind Biosciences released the results of a preclinical animal study showing that psilocybin was beneficial in reducing weight gain. In the past, they also did a similar study with healthy test animals, which also showed the same results.

NeonMind specifically used psilocybin to reduce visceral fat. “Increased visceral fat is associated with poorer cardiometabolic health, and reducing this type of fat is important for weight loss and better overall health outcomes,” they said. When analyzing overweight animals, they found that there was a statistically significant difference in relative and absolute weight gain that was seen just a few days after the experimental animals were administered psilocybin. They also found a significant reduction in food intake compared to the control group, and no negative safety signals were observed.

Clive Ward Able, MD, a pharmacist, physician, and consultant to NeonMind Inc., told the Pharmacy Times that based on his research, the use of psychedelic medicine along with psychotherapy has been shown to be beneficial for treating obesity. “That gives you the psychedelic event that seems to be able to help along with psychotherapy,” he said. “Second, it also affects the 5-HT2C receptors, which are very strongly related to satiety or hunger and hunger control,” he explains.

“So there we can look at another formulation where we use a much lower dose, probably 10% to 15% of what would normally be used for a psychedelic dose, but you do this at a daily or four times a week dosing. ‘ explains Able. Based on his findings, a lower dose can increase satiety, meaning a person feels much less hungry. It also contributes to their well-being, he adds.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED), Anxiety, Depression and Psychedelics

While there are few studies examining the effects of psychedelics on obesity or binge eating, it just makes a lot of hypothetical why it can work so well.

Many patients who suffer from binge eating disorder also struggle with depression and anxiety related to food. For this reason, these disorders are considered comorbidities. In fact, experts say that a whopping 78.9% of people with binge eating disorder also suffer from co-occurring conditions, particularly anxiety, mood disorders, impulse control, and substance abuse disorders.

Because psilocybin and other psychedelics are so successful in treating anxiety and depression, it may be able to help the patient uncover trauma and shame issues that are unconsciously wired in the brain and lead to binge eating.

As of this writing, Tryp Therapeutics is working on the first FDA-approved psilocybin treatment designed specifically for binge eating disorder. In April 2022, they began phase II trials despite the FDA approving them last year. TRP-8802, the company’s psilocybin candidate, is being tested in conjunction with psychotherapy to see how it may help treat binge eating disorder.

“The world’s first FDA-regulated clinical trial for a psilocybin-assisted therapy targeting BED is underway, further advancing our clinical milestones,” said Dr. Jim Gilligan, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Tryp Therapeutics. “This is a key study for our psilocybin-assisted therapy portfolio as we evaluate the efficacy of TRP-8802 (oral psilocybin) in treating patients with BED. So far, there has been a strong interest in recruiting study participants,” he said.

“We believe psilocybin-assisted therapy has the potential to offer a new therapeutic treatment for BED, a disorder that devastates the lives of over 250,000 people each year,” said Gilligan.

Conclusion

There is no single answer or single cause when it comes to eating disorders and addictions of any kind.

Experts agree that a spectrum of factors can cause it: biological, environmental, and psychological. Changes in the brain can also cause eating disorders, which lead to poor health. We hope that psychedelics will be used more widely as a safe and natural way to treat these disorders for a healthier society.

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