# Does Semaglutide Reduce Alcohol Use? One Trial Found a 13.7-Point Gap | This GLP Does semaglutide reduce alcohol use? Six studies, three of them randomized trials, with the doses and populations each one tested and the outcome one trial missed. Publisher: This GLP Editorial Team Canonical: https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use Updated: 2026-09-18 Published: 2026-09-16 [← Research](https://thisglp.com/research) Evidence # Does Semaglutide Reduce Alcohol Use? One Trial Found a 13.7-Point Gap In a 26-week trial, yes: heavy drinking days fell 13.7 percentage points more than placebo. A register study found the benefit fades within a year of stopping. [This GLP Editorial Team](https://thisglp.com/about)September 20268 min readUpdated September 2026 Fall in heavy drinking days over 26 weeks · semaglutide 2.4 mg · 41.1 pts · placebo · 26.4 pts · Difference 13.7 points (95% CI 22.0 to 5.4). Both arms had therapy. **Research, not medical advice.** This GLP is independent and educational. Nothing here is a substitute for individualized care from a licensed clinician, and reading it creates no doctor–patient relationship. Talk to your own provider before starting, stopping, or changing any medication, peptide, or therapy. See our [methodology](https://thisglp.com/methodology) and [terms](https://thisglp.com/terms). Yes, in randomized trials. The size of the effect depends on which trial. In the largest one, heavy drinking days fell 13.7 percentage points more on semaglutide than on placebo. That was over 26 weeks, in 108 people with alcohol use disorder [\[1\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-1). A smaller trial of the daily tablet missed its primary outcome, craving in a laboratory test. Heavy drinking days still fell in that trial [\[6\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-6). A separate register study found alcohol-related hospital admissions ran lower on the drug, at a rate ratio of 0.55 [\[5\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-5). That association faded within a year of stopping — the full [discontinuation data](https://thisglp.com/research/what-happens-when-you-stop-drinking-on-it) is below. Nothing here is an approved use. The largest trial did use 2.4 mg weekly, the dose sold for weight loss, in adults with both alcohol use disorder and obesity. ## Key takeaways - A 26-week randomized trial in 108 people found heavy drinking days fell 13.7 percentage points further on semaglutide than on placebo — and both arms also received cognitive behavioral therapy. - An earlier 9-week trial in 48 people found lower laboratory drinking and lower craving, but no change in how many days people drank. - An 8-week trial of oral semaglutide in 50 people missed its primary outcome, laboratory craving. Heavy drinking days still fell. - A retrospective cohort of 83,825 people with obesity found a 50% to 56% lower rate of alcohol use disorder over 12 months. - A Swedish register study of 167,026 people found alcohol-related hospitalizations fell while on the drug (RR 0.55), and the benefit faded within a year of stopping. - The doses studied are brand semaglutide at 0.5 mg and 2.4 mg. Nobody is licensed to prescribe it for this. The claim started as an anecdote. It became a pharmacovigilance signal. It has now been tested in randomized trials of semaglutide. That progression is unusual, and the literature broadly agreed with the anecdote. None of it changes what these drugs are sold for. Every seller on [this site’s roundup](https://thisglp.com/best) prescribes them for weight. None prescribes for this. ## The larger trial A 26-week single-center trial randomized 108 treatment-seeking adults with alcohol use disorder and obesity. The drug was weekly semaglutide at 2.4 mg or placebo. Both arms also got cognitive behavioral therapy [\[1\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-1). Heavy drinking days fell 41.1 percentage points from baseline on semaglutide and 26.4 points on placebo. The treatment difference was 13.7 points (95% CI −22.0 to −5.4, p=0.0015). Eighty-one percent of participants completed the full intervention. The placebo arm is the part worth sitting with. It fell by more than a quarter on therapy alone. Semaglutide added to that; it did not replace it. The trial cannot say what the drug would do without therapy, because it never tested that. ## The smaller, earlier trial A phase 2 trial published a year earlier took a different population. It randomized 48 adults with alcohol use disorder who were _not_ seeking treatment. It gave nine weeks of low-dose semaglutide, topping out at 1.0 mg, and measured drinking in a laboratory task[\[2\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-2). It found medium to large effects on grams of alcohol consumed (β −0.48, 95% CI −0.85 to −0.11). Peak breath alcohol concentration also fell (β −0.46, 95% CI −0.87 to −0.06). Drinks per drinking day and weekly craving also fell. It also found nothing on two outcomes. Average drinks per calendar day did not move. Neither did the number of drinking days. People drank on the same days, and drank less when they did. That is a specific finding, not a weaker version of the big trial’s. ## The oral trial, which missed its primary outcome A third trial tested the daily tablet [\[6\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-6). It randomized 50 treatment-seeking adults with moderate to severe alcohol use disorder. The dose was oral semaglutide 3 mg a day for four weeks, then 7 mg for four weeks. The comparison was placebo. The primary outcome was craving in a laboratory cue test at week 6. It did not fall significantly. Drinks per day did not fall either. Heavy drinking days did fall, and they were a preregistered secondary outcome. So did drinks per drinking day, everyday craving and [cannabis use days](https://thisglp.com/research/can-you-smoke-weed-on-ozempic). A trial is read on its primary outcome first. This one missed it. Its secondary results point the same way as the 26-week trial, in a group less than half the size. Three RCTs, three molecules, three answers A 2025 systematic review found three trials, 48 to 151 participants each [\[3\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-3). Semaglutide reduced alcohol use. Dulaglutide lowered intake among current drinkers. Exenatide had no significant effect on heavy drinking days. This is a drug-class question only in the loosest sense. ## What the large observational data adds A retrospective cohort of electronic health records covered 83,825 patients with obesity[\[4\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-4). Semaglutide was associated with a 50% to 56% lower rate of both incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder over 12 months. The comparison was other anti-obesity medications. The direction was consistent across sex, age group, race, and diabetes status. It replicated in 598,803 patients with type 2 diabetes. Cohorts of that size are good at showing a small effect is real. They are bad at showing how big it is. People prescribed one drug differ from people prescribed another, in ways no adjustment fully removes. The trials are the evidence for the size. The cohort is the evidence that it generalizes past a single clinic. ## What happens after someone stops A Swedish register study asked a question the trials above could not. What happens to the effect once a person stops taking the drug? It compared 167,026 people with type 2 diabetes against themselves, across periods on and off treatment [\[5\]](https://thisglp.com/research/does-semaglutide-reduce-alcohol-use#ref-5). While exposed, alcohol-related hospitalizations ran at a rate ratio of 0.55 against a person’s own unexposed periods. In the first 182 days after stopping, the association was weaker, at 0.70. By 183 to 364 days it was gone, at 1.07. That interval sits across no effect. DPP-4 inhibitors, used as a comparison, showed no such pattern. The full breakdown is in [the discontinuation study](https://thisglp.com/research/what-happens-when-you-stop-drinking-on-it). ## The part that matters for anyone buying online None of this is an approved use. The trials used brand semaglutide, at fixed doses, under supervision. The larger one added therapy. A reader who buys a compounded vial from a telehealth storefront hoping for this effect is buying a different thing. It is a preparation the FDA does not review before dispensing. The dose is often unstated. The escalation schedule is usually unpublished. We count how rarely that gets written down in [who publishes a dose ladder](https://thisglp.com/research/who-publishes-a-glp1-dose-ladder). We list every seller that does in [the published ladders tool](https://thisglp.com/tools/published-dose-ladders). The two injection trials also ran at doses on the escalation path, not at the starting rung. What a price does between those two points is the single most common silence in this market. It is counted in [what sellers will not tell you](https://thisglp.com/research/what-glp1-sellers-do-not-publish). If the interest is appetite and reward more broadly, read the weight evidence first in [what the semaglutide trials are worth](https://thisglp.com/research/semaglutide-cochrane-review). ## Frequently asked Does semaglutide reduce drinking? In a 26-week randomized trial of 108 people, heavy drinking days fell 13.7 percentage points further than on placebo. Both arms also received cognitive behavioral therapy, and the placebo arm still improved substantially. Is it approved for alcohol use disorder? No. Every trial so far has been investigational, and the systematic review of the randomized evidence covers three trials of between 48 and 151 participants. Do all GLP-1 drugs do this? The randomized evidence does not say so. Semaglutide reduced alcohol use and dulaglutide lowered intake among current drinkers, but exenatide showed no significant effect on heavy drinking days. What dose was studied? The 26-week trial used 2.4 mg weekly. The earlier 9-week trial topped out at 1.0 mg. An 8-week trial used oral semaglutide at 3 mg and then 7 mg a day. All three used brand semaglutide at a fixed schedule under supervision. Does the semaglutide pill reduce drinking? One 8-week trial of 50 people tested it. It missed its primary outcome, craving in a laboratory cue test, and drinks per day did not fall. Heavy drinking days and drinks per drinking day did fall. Does the benefit last after stopping? Only briefly. A Swedish register study found alcohol-related hospital admissions stayed lower for the first 182 days after stopping and were back to baseline by 183 to 364 days. ## Sources 1. \[1\] Klausen MK, et al. (2026). Once-weekly semaglutide versus placebo in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial The Lancet. [PMID 42070571](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42070571/) 2. \[2\] Hendershot CS, et al. (2025). Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA Psychiatry. [PMID 39937469](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39937469/) 3. \[3\] Patel S, et al. (2025). GLP-1 receptor agonists and alcohol use disorder: a systematic review Alcohol and Alcoholism. [PMID 41273789](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41273789/) 4. \[4\] Wang W, et al. (2024). Associations of semaglutide with incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder in real-world population Nature Communications. [PMID 38806481](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38806481/) 5. \[5\] Bach P, Franck J, Hällgren J, Widing H, Gissler M, Westman J (2026). Association of GLP-1 receptor agonists with alcohol use disorder-related and substance use disorder-related hospital admissions during treatment and after discontinuation: a Swedish register-based within-individual observational study The Lancet. Psychiatry. [PMID 42456704](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42456704/) 6. \[6\] Schacht JP, et al. (2026). Oral Semaglutide for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial American Journal of Psychiatry. [PMID 42522065](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42522065/) ## Where to get it ### Best GLP-1 injections Every injectable seller we can verify, with the price each one publishes and an honest read of what the trials measured. 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