Baclofen for binge eating: an open-label trial.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

Baclofen is a GABA-B agonist that may be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, and also reduces 'binge-like' eating in rodents. We hypothesized that baclofen might be effective in reducing binge eating episodes in binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHOD:

Seven women with BED (n = 4) or BN (n = 3) took baclofen (60 mg/day) for 10 weeks.

RESULTS:

Six out of seven patients completed the full 10-week trial. Five out of seven participants (3 BED; 2 BN) demonstrated 50% or greater reduction of frequency of binge eating from beginning to end of the study. Three out of seven participants (2 BED; 1 BN) were free of binge eating at study end. Four out of seven participants elected to continue baclofen at study end. Baclofen was well tolerated by the participants.

CONCLUSION:

In this open-label trial, baclofen was associated with decreased binge eating frequency in patients with BED and BN.

• Authors: Allegra I Broft, Alexia Spanos, Rebecca L Corwin, Laurel Mayer, Joanna Steinglass, Michael J Devlin, Evelyn Attia, B Timothy Walsh
• Journal: The International journal of eating disorders (Int J Eat Disord) Vol. 40 Issue 8 Pg. 687-91 (Dec 2007) ISSN: 0276-3478 [Print] United States
• PMID: 17647277 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)
• Copyright: (c) 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Chemical References

• GABA Agonists
• Baclofen

Topics

• Adult
• Appetite (drug effects)
• Baclofen (administration & dosage, adverse effects)
• Body Weight (drug effects)
• Bulimia Nervosa (drug therapy)
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Drug Administration Schedule
• Female
• GABA Agonists (administration & dosage, adverse effects)
• Humans