---
type: source
title: "GLP-1 Medications and Eating Disorders: NEDA and ANAD Clinical Guidance"
author: "National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) and National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD)"
url: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/glp-and-eating-disorders/
date: 2025-01-01
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: clinical-guidance
status: unprocessed
priority: medium
tags: [glp1, eating-disorders, neda, anad, clinical-guidance, screening, contraindications, monitoring]
intake_tier: research-task
---

## Content

Consolidated guidance from two leading eating disorder advocacy/clinical organizations (NEDA and ANAD) on GLP-1 medications in the context of eating disorders.

**Who should avoid GLP-1 medications (NEDA):**
- Current or past anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa
- Active restrictive behaviors, bingeing, or purging
- Severe body image issues or unstable recovery
- Lack of appropriate monitoring or multidisciplinary support
- Signs the medication is being sought solely for weight loss

**No FDA warnings** for eating disorder populations — clinical guidance is professional society recommendation only.

**Required care team (ANAD):**
- Physician versed in GLP-1s and eating disorders
- Therapist experienced with both GLP-1s and ED treatment
- Dietitian familiar with this medication class and recovery nutrition

**Monitoring requirements (ANAD):**
- Hydration and electrolyte levels (vomiting + GI side effects pose serious risk)
- Emergence of restrictive eating behaviors
- Weight loss rate and magnitude
- Eating disorder symptom changes via standardized measures

**Documented risks:**
- GI side effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastroparesis) "can trigger or worsen purging behaviors" in vulnerable individuals
- Appetite suppression may reinforce restrictive eating patterns
- Disruption of hunger/satiety awareness critical to recovery
- Potential weight cycling + psychological effects upon discontinuation
- ~2/3 of weight loss returns within one year if medication stops (ANAD note — consistent with continuous-delivery dependency pattern)

**Research basis for BED:** Mixed results with very small sample sizes; only 3-6 month follow-ups; one RCT found "patients didn't experience any change in their eating disorder behaviors"

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This documents the gold-standard clinical guidance from the two organizations most focused on eating disorder treatment. The fact that their guidance is RECOMMENDATION-ONLY (not regulatory requirement) while describing a tri-specialist care team as essential before prescribing captures the implementation gap perfectly. Most GLP-1 prescriptions come from primary care physicians who have none of these three specialists available.

**What surprised me:** The ANAD finding that GI side effects (nausea, vomiting) "can trigger or worsen purging behaviors" in vulnerable individuals — this is a mechanism I hadn't considered. The drug's most common adverse effects (GI effects experienced by ~40% of users) overlap precisely with purging behaviors in bulimia nervosa. This is a direct pharmacological pathway to harm, not just an indirect psychological reinforcement.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any data on how many patients currently taking GLP-1s have disclosed eating disorder histories to their prescribers. Given the stigma around ED disclosure and the lack of systematic screening, this number is almost certainly very low.

**KB connections:**
- [[medical care explains only 10-20 percent of health outcomes because behavioral social and genetic factors dominate]] — the ED risk is primarily behavioral/psychological, not pharmacological, but pharmacology creates the trigger
- [[the mental health supply gap is widening not closing]] — the recommended tri-specialist care team (physician + therapist + dietitian) is even more supply-constrained for ED specialists than general mental health
- [[prescription digital therapeutics failed as a business model]] — DTx for ED treatment also has a weak evidence base; no proven scalable solution

**Extraction hints:** Key structural claim: "GLP-1 prescribing guidelines from eating disorder specialists require a tri-specialist care team (physician + ED therapist + dietitian) but this care team structure is unavailable in primary care settings where most GLP-1 prescriptions originate." This operationalizes the screening gap into a structural capacity gap.

**Context:** Professional society guidance, not regulatory requirement. NEDA and ANAD do not have prescribing authority — their guidance creates no legal obligation. But they represent the authoritative clinical voice in this space.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[the mental health supply gap is widening not closing because demand outpaces workforce growth and technology primarily serves the already-served rather than expanding access]]
WHY ARCHIVED: The tri-specialist recommendation vs. primary care prescribing reality creates a structural capacity gap — this is a claim about healthcare system fragmentation, not just individual risk
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on the structural implementation gap: who issues the guidance vs. who prescribes the drug (specialists vs. PCPs). The gap between recommended practice and actual prescribing workflow is the claim.
