Everyday Health

Scott Kanoski, PhD, a neurobiologist at USC Dornsife in Los Angeles, says semaglutide can affect the reward centers in the brain. In research in rodents published in Molecular Psychiatry in July 2019, he and his team found that this class of drugs may act on the hippocampus, one of the brain regions that control certain aspects of eating behavior, including the impulse to keep eating “palatable” food. The study notes, though, that further research is needed to untangle the underlying mechanisms.

“One way in which this could be happening is by reducing the ability of rewarding cues to engage the release of dopamine, which is a biological currency for motivation and reward in the brain,” Dr. Kanoski says.

People taking drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro (tirzepatide, another GLP-1 agonist) may not get that feel-good “high” from experiences that ordinarily would result in a dopamine payoff — including activities like nail biting and compulsive shopping.