By Anthony J. Brown, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - "Out of control" binge eaters may benefit from the Alzheimer's drug memantine, according to new research suggesting that the drug significantly reduces the frequency and severity of binge episodes, although it does not seem to induce weight loss.

Study chief Dr. Brian P. Brennan, from McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health that his team was not surprised that memantine reduced binge episodes since that was their initial hypothesis.

On the other hand, he added, "We were surprised that memantine was not associated with a reduction in body weight. A previous small study using memantine in five individuals with binge eating disorder showed a reduction in both frequency of binge episodes and body weight."

Binge eaters often eat large amounts of food while feeling a loss of control over their eating. It is different from the binge-purge syndrome of bulimia because binge eaters do not purge afterward by vomiting or taking laxatives. Binge eating disorder is contributing to the rise in obesity.

In their study, Brennan's team had 16 binge eaters take memantine for 12 weeks. With treatment, the average number of binges per week fell significantly from 5.5 to 1.2 and the average number of binge days per week dropped from 4.4 to 1.1, which was also significant.

Memantine had no effect on body weight, as mentioned, or on depressive mood or anxiety.

Medications like memantine that act by reducing the activity of the neurotransmitter glutamate "may have future applications in binge eating disorder or other illnesses that involve disordered eating," Brennan said.

"We are currently discussing plans to do a larger placebo-controlled study of memantine in binge eating disorder," he added.

SOURCE: International Journal of Eating Disorders, September 2008.

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