Psychopharmacological advances in eating disorders.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and expert commentary with mechanistic reasoning
PubMed 28933969 · doi:10.1080/17512433.2018.1383895
What was done
This narrative review summarizes current approved pharmacotherapies and discusses theoretical drug targets for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, focusing on neural circuits, neurotransmitter pathways, homeostatic hormones, metabolic and immune systems, and the microbiome.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative data or effect sizes. It notes that approved pharmacological treatments remain limited in some countries to fluoxetine for bulimia nervosa and lisdexamfetamine for binge eating disorder, while outlining potential therapeutic targets across self-regulatory (serotonin, norepinephrine, glutamate), hedonic (opioids, cannabinoids, dopamine), and hypothalamic/metabolic systems (histamine, ghrelin, leptin, insulin, GLP-1).
Why it matters
It highlights the substantial unmet pharmacological need across eating disorders—particularly anorexia nervosa—and outlines biological targets beyond classical central neurotransmitter pathways to include metabolic and microbiome systems.
Limits
The abstract provides no original human trial data, quantitative findings, or systematic search methodology, presenting mechanistic hypothesis and narrative expert commentary.
Cited by
- supports Eating disorders involve disruptions across serotonin, dopamine, and opioid signaling pathways.