Two retrospective analyses of Ro telehealth records found lower food-noise scores among adults taking semaglutide, but neither can show whether the drug caused the changes.
Novo Nordisk said Nov. 14 that the findings came from analyses of de-identified Ro records. The seven-item Ro Allison Indiana Dhurandhar–Food Noise Inventory asks people to rate recurring, unwanted preoccupation with food on a five-point scale; higher scores indicate more intense food noise.
The SIGNAL analysis included 26,213 treatment-naïve adults with obesity or overweight plus at least one weight-related condition who started semaglutide injections through Ro. Researchers counted follow-up scores only when participants had answered the questionnaire and had no treatment gap longer than 30 days.
The adjusted average score was 2.72 at baseline, then 0.42 points lower after one month and 0.72 points lower after six months. Every monthly follow-up comparison showed a reduction from baseline (p<0.001). The study reported that fewer people contributed data over time but did not give monthly food-noise respondent counts.
In OCTANE, the average score among 6,180 people with results at both the start and three-month mark fell from 2.8 to 2.1, a 24.8% decline (p<0.001). The broader analysis tracked 7,669 adults who started oral semaglutide through Ro between Jan. 5 and Feb. 7, 2026, and remained on treatment for three months. On a separate checklist, 5,733 of 6,638 respondents, or 86.4%, reported at least one perceived improvement; better-fitting clothing and healthier eating were the most common responses.
Novo cited self-reported answers, variation in routine telehealth data, selection of people who stayed on treatment and limited generalizability as study constraints. The findings add a patient-reported measure to earlier real-world semaglutide research on weight and liver-marker changes in MASH.
The ObesityWeek directory lists the two posters for Nov. 15 at 2:30 p.m. ET, while Novo’s Nov. 14 announcement said the findings had already been presented that day.
