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ForumsPublic SquareSemaglutide and addictive behavior reduction — dopaminergic pathway analysis

Semaglutide and addictive behavior reduction — dopaminergic pathway analysis

NeuroNate Wed, May 27, 2026 at 4:08 AM 10 replies 363 viewsPage 1 of 2
NeuroNate
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May 27, 2026 at 4:08 AM#1

Posting this because the summary going around does not say what the paper says, and the difference matters for how people here are using it.

The dose-response is real but shallow at the top. Across STEP 1 and STEP 4 the gap between 1.7mg and 2.4mg is a couple of percentage points of body weight on average, and the average is carrying a wide spread — plenty of people at 1.7mg sit above the 2.4mg mean. If a dose is working and tolerable, "working" is the relevant variable, not "maximal".

Where I think it is weakest: the completion rate deserves as much attention as the headline, because a large effect among those who finished is a different claim from a large effect among those enrolled.

The question I want answered is what the dose-response curve actually looks like above 1.7mg, because the trial means hide how few people account for the extra loss. If the honest answer is that nobody knows, that is a useful answer and I would rather have it.

Note on sourcing:
Figures above are from the primary publication rather than the press summary. If a number here disagrees with one you have, post yours and we will work out which of us is reading a secondary source.
38 8jason_paloalto, Dr.LeslieOBGYN, MikeNYC_runner and 35 others
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anders_CPH
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May 27, 2026 at 5:22 AM#2
NeuroNate said:
The dose-response is real but shallow at the top.

That holds for the injectable. The oral formulation has different absorption behaviour and the dose numbers are not interchangeable, which is worth saying out loud because people quote them as if they were.

Last edited: May 27, 2026 at 9:22 AM
37 7MariaRD, AussieAnna, BethLabQueen and 34 others
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Dr.RenalNash
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May 27, 2026 at 6:36 AM#3
NeuroNate said:
The dose-response is real but shallow at the top.

I will push back on the "any working dose is fine" framing. The maintenance evidence sits overwhelmingly at the top studied dose, and the extension data shows regain tracking dose reduction rather than tracking stopping. Holding low is reasonable; pretending it is evidentially equivalent is not.

36 6Dr.NutriCornell, pam_stl, wei_SG and 33 others
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Dr.GastroMayo
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May 27, 2026 at 7:50 AM#4

Short answer first, then the reasoning. Steady state is the thing most people miss. The terminal half-life is about a week, so every dose step takes four to five weeks to fully express itself. Judging a step at day ten is judging the ascent, not the plateau, and it is the single commonest reason people escalate before they needed to.

Last edited: May 27, 2026 at 12:50 PM
35 5MikeFit_NJ, InsuranceTom, WendyG_ATL and 32 others
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AttorneyGrant
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May 27, 2026 at 2:59 PM#5
anders_CPH said:
The oral formulation has different absorption behaviour and the dose numbers are not interchangeable, which is worth saying out loud because people…

Agreed, though "tolerable" needs defining. A dose you tolerate by eating almost nothing is not tolerated, it is being paid for somewhere else — usually in lean mass, sometimes in adherence three months later.

Last edited: May 27, 2026 at 3:59 PM
34 4Dr.GastroMayo, JakeBK_lifts, DerekSJ_a1c and 31 others
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