Naltrexone, especially in low doses, has the potential to help you lose weight.
This doesn’t mean it’s a miracle weight loss medication.
In fact, it’s far from it.
But it does have some interesting uses and may be beneficial, especially for people who have not had success losing weight and keeping it off.
Here’s how it works:
Low Dose Naltrexone and Weight Loss
But first, if you haven’t heard about naltrexone before, here’s what you need to know:
Naltrexone was created as an opioid agonist (1) and was originally designed to treat alcohol dependence.
But doctors later found that when used in smaller doses, it has some very interesting benefits that make it useful for treating conditions like chronic pain, autoimmune disease, and even metabolic damage and weight loss resistance.
And it’s those last two that I want to focus on today.
How and why it helps with weight loss is not completely understood but we do know that it works.
Which is why you’ll find it in FDA-approved medications like Contrave.
But it’s important to note that the FDA has not approved naltrexone by itself for weight loss, only the combination of medications found in Contrave.
But that doesn’t mean that taking naltrexone by itself can’t or won’t help.
Based on available research and my own personal experience with this medication, here’s how it probably works:
#1. It Helps Reset Your Body Set Point
Most people are completely unaware of the simple concept known as the body set point (2).
But when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, few things are more important or more predictive of your ability to stay lean.
This set point functions as an internal unconscious thermostat for your weight.
Through a combination of hormones, metabolism, and appetite signals, your body regulates your weight in a very tight range.
The only problem with this is that you really don’t have any conscious control over it.
So if your body has set your weight to a higher level than you want it to be, you’re going to have to fight against these systems to normalize and reset it.
This idea of the body set point is thought to be one of the reasons that so few people are able to lose weight and keep it off (3) and why this number rests at about 1%.
And, unfortunately, very few things can impact this measure but naltrexone may be one of those.
The reason for this is multifold but it likely has something to do with its ability to impact the reward system of eating in your brain (4) as well as its impact on metabolic hormones.
And I think this is where the utility of naltrexone for weight loss really comes into play.
Not so much as a direct weight loss medication, because there are way better options available, including GLP-1 agonists.
But because of its impact to make your weight loss “sticky”.
Because losing weight is often less about forcing fat loss and more about keeping it off.
Which brings us to point #2:
#2. It Helps Regulate Appetite
More than regulating appetite, it modulates the pleasure-reward system associated with eating in your brain.
And this is more important than you may realize. Here’s why:
One of the best predictors for long-term weight loss is your ability to consistently eat healthy. Not just for a few weeks, mind you, but for months and months on end.
And this is really only possible when you have control over your appetite.
This is one reason I’m not a huge fan of any low-calorie sweeteners, even natural ones.
Because even though they contain few calories, they still trigger that pleasure-reward system in your brain when you consume them.
These powerful signals make it almost impossible to eat healthy for long periods of time.
But because naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain, it blunts this reward response system which reduces cravings for some of the most pleasure-inducing foods (think high-fat, high-sugar foods).
The net result is that it’s easier for you to maintain a healthy diet and, therefore, your weight.
Again, this doesn’t directly cause weight loss per-se, but it absolutely makes losing weight and keeping it off much easier.
#4. It Improves Thyroid Function
Thyroid hormone is one of the primary regulators of metabolism and if you want to effortlessly lose weight, you want this hormone system in tip-top shape.
For a while, it was a running joke that people would blame their thyroid on their weight.
The reality is that this may be more true than most people realize.
Thyroid dysfunction is on the rise and currently impacts up to 20% of the population, which is no small number by itself.
But if you consider the fact that obesity negatively impacts thyroid function, it’s certainly fair to say that many obese people have problems with their thyroid even if their thyroid wasn’t the source of their weight gain originally.
Whether your thyroid was the original cause of your weight gain or just a casualty, naltrexone may be part of the solution.
Research has shown that low doses of naltrexone may have a positive impact on the immune system which can protect the thyroid gland from damage.
This applies to people with existing thyroid conditions, like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, but also to those without thyroid problems.
This is because generalized inflammation has a negative impact on thyroid hormone conversion (5) and leads to low thyroid hormone levels.
On top of this, naltrexone appears to have some impact on the hypothalamus which ultimately regulates thyroid function.
I wouldn’t say naltrexone is a thyroid booster, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to improve the hormone that is primarily responsible for your metabolism if you are trying to lose weight.
#5. It Improves Insulin Sensitivity
Insulin, of course, is the hormone that is responsible for driving your body to store energy and create fat.
The more insulin you have in circulation, and the more resistant your cells are to it, the harder it will be for you to burn fat and lose weight.
Naltrexone has shown promise as something that may help your body become more sensitive to insulin.
This is for several reasons:
- The first is that it helps reduce inflammation which is often the underlying cause of insulin resistance.
- The second is through its direct impact on weight loss. Anything that helps you lose weight will help with insulin sensitivity.
- The third is through its impact on other hormones like thyroid hormone and cortisol. The more balanced these hormone systems are the more balanced your other hormones like insulin will be.
How powerful is this impact?
It’s fairly robust, as far as medications go.
One study showed that type I diabetics taking naltrexone saw a decrease in their Hgb A1c by 1.5% after 2 months and by as much as 2.5% after 1 year (6).
I don’t think this medication shines as a blood sugar-lowering medication, but if you’re someone with a Hgb A1c in the pre-diabetes range who also needs to lose weight, then it certainly can be considered.
#6. Naltrexone May Help Improve Sleep & Sleeping Patterns
The importance of sleep can’t be overstated when it comes to weight loss.
You probably already know that weight gain can cause issues with your sleep in the form of sleep apnea, but it’s also true that a lack of sleep also makes it easier for you to gain weight (7).
Not only will a lack of sleep sap your willpower (8) making it more likely for you to say no to unhealthy foods, it also negatively impacts cortisol and thyroid hormones.
And you already know that story since we just talked about it.
But this is where naltrexone may come into play:
It’s been shown to help improve sleeping patterns, specifically in those with sleep apnea.
In addition, it’s also been shown to improve sleep in patients with chronic pain syndromes.
And I can add that anecdotally, I have seen this to be the case in patients with autoimmune diseases as well.
Again, you really shouldn’t think of it as a specific sleep aid, but given its benefits on other systems in the body, if it also happens to help you get a good night’s rest then that’s all the better.
Who Should Consider Using It?
The real question is:
Should you try to get your hands on this medication?
And the answer to that is maybe.
There are two groups of people that I think benefit the most from this medication:
First and foremost are those people who feel like they have issues with their body set point.
These are people who are able to lose weight but can’t seem to keep that weight off no matter how hard they try.
This, in my opinion, is the best use case for naltrexone.
When used in this situation, you don’t want to take it as a primary weight loss medication,
But instead, one that is used in concert with other treatments like diet, exercise, hormones, and maybe other medications like GLP-1 agonists.
If you add it on top of these treatments, it should help your weight loss stick after you lose it.
The second group is those people who have known or suspected thyroid problems.
Using naltrexone in this setting is a no-brainer due to its potential to improve your thyroid and treat autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease.
You can certainly use it in other settings, these are just the people who I think will get the most benefit out of it.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is a must-have. It’s not.
It’s absolutely possible to lose weight with just diet, exercise, and some simple lifestyle changes in just about every situation.
But if you are someone who has tried everything without success, then this is a potential option.
How To Get It
If you want to use it, you’ll need to get a prescription from your doctor.
Unfortunately, the standard doses that it comes in are much higher than what you’ll want so you’ll probably need to get it compounded to get it into the ideal range for weight loss.
This range is somewhere between 1.5 and 13.5mg.
You can also find naltrexone built into the medication Contrave.
You’ll probably have an easier time getting Contrave as it’s FDA-approved for weight loss compared to getting your naltrexone compounded but go with whatever works for you.
Before you jump onto medications with potentially harmful side effects, it may be worth looking into some more natural over-the-counter supplements.
Because using the right supplements can definitely make weight loss easier and more efficient.
If you want to see a list of the best available, check out this article next.
Now I want to hear from you:
Have you used Naltrexone or LDN previously?
Did it help you lose weight? Why or why not?
Leave your questions or comments below!
Scientific References
#1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8135389
#2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592402/
#3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221839/
#4. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8314402/
#5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4802023/
#6. https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/27/3/847/23065/Naltrexone-Improves-Blood-Glucose-Control-in-Type
#7. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3496783/
#8. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4608917/
#9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27051079
#10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26054748
#11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2829991/
#12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15277149
#13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3548567/
#14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3496783/
#15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3021364/
#16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3143473
#17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3661907/
#18. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11367890
#19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23594453
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