The Day the Food Noise Died

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The Day the Food Noise Died

Before the rise of GLP-1s, obesity experts didn’t study the internal buzz that compels people to eat. Now that food noise is being switched off, they want to understand it.

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Kaitlin Brito

By

Gina Kolata

April 27, 2026

Updated

10:26 a.m. ET

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Before the new obesity drugs came on the market, almost no one used the term food noise.

Researchers studying and developing drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound analyzed doses, side effects, weight loss and improvements in conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnea. Incessant thoughts about food and internal dialogues about what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, how to resist eating — these were not on the research agenda.

But if the obesity-drug researchers weren’t talking about food noise,

people taking GLP-1s had a lot to say about it

. For as long as they could remember, users of the drugs said, they had been plagued by food noise. But they thought it was just a normal part of life. They thought everyone had it.

Until they took one of the new drugs.

Suddenly, food noise was silenced.

And that effect is leading to new questions about the drugs. If researchers can clarify the source of this inner buzz and what makes it go away, that could lead to a clearer understanding of what causes obesity in the first place.

‘You Don’t Want the Salad’

People who struggle with their weight describe relentless thoughts of food.

Lena Smith Parker, 53, of Hamden, Conn., spent decades dieting and regaining weight. All the while, she said, she was plagued by internal voices urging her to eat and shaming her for eating.

One, she said, is like a relentless auctioneer. “You know there’s cake in the kitchen. Hey, there’s cake in the kitchen. Don’t you want the cake in the kitchen?”

Another, she said, is like “a really bad used-car salesman.”

“You don’t want the salad. You don’t want the carrots,” the voice says. “You want the cake.”

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