Regular Article

Baclofen for binge eating: An open-label trial

  1. Allegra I. Broft MD1,*,
  2. Alexia Spanos BA1,
  3. Rebecca L. Corwin PhD2,
  4. Laurel Mayer MD1,
  5. Joanna Steinglass MD1,
  6. Michael J. Devlin MD1,
  7. Evelyn Attia MD1,
  8. B. Timothy Walsh MD1

Article first published online: 23 JUL 2007

DOI: 10.1002/eat.20434

Issue

International Journal of Eating Disorders

International Journal of Eating Disorders

Volume 40, Issue 8, pages 687–691, December 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Broft, A. I., Spanos, A., Corwin, R. L., Mayer, L., Steinglass, J., Devlin, M. J., Attia, E. and Walsh, B. T. (2007), Baclofen for binge eating: An open-label trial. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 40: 687–691. doi: 10.1002/eat.20434

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York

  2. 2

    Department of Nutrition, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

*Eating Disorders Research Unit, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 98, New York, NY 10032

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 29 OCT 2007
  2. Article first published online: 23 JUL 2007
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 13 MAY 2007

Funded by

  • NIMH. Grant Numbers: T32 MH15144, R21 MH65024

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Keywords:

  • baclofen;
  • binge eating;
  • bulimia nervosa;
  • eating disorder;
  • addiction;
  • clinical 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. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2007

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