Simply put, obesity is a product of the body’s output energy being less than the energy energy input. But in reality, nothing is simple about this complex and mysterious disease.
Obesity, which has skyrocketed in recent decades – now defining the body mass of 0% of adult Americans – is not difficult for people to tolerate and for scientists to understand. It is incredibly difficult to treat.
In addition to the commitment to lifestyle changes – a healthy diet and exercise, effectively – there are really only two possible options that can help: bariatric surgery and weight loss medications.
The former is aggressive and has various dangers and pitfalls. When it comes to drugs, they don’t always work, and they can have their own side effects.
However, in a recent trial by scientists and a study published this week, detailed experimental treatment with weight loss medicine may open new doors for the treatment of obese patients.
In the study, which included about 2,000 obese adults in 16 different countries, participants took a weekly dose of a drug called semaglutide, a drug already used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The control group took only placebo, instead of drugs. Both groups received a lifestyle intervention course designed to promote weight loss.
At the end of the trial, the participants lost weight, but lost a clinically negligible dose. But for those who took Semeglu Tide, the effects were pronounced.
After 68 weeks of treatment with the drug – which suppresses appetite due to various effects on the brain – participants who took semeglutide lost an average of 14.9 percent of their body weight. And more than 30 percent of the group has lost more than 20 percent of their body weight.
For the most part, the drug is twice as effective as existing weight-loss drugs, the researchers say, referring to the type of effectiveness of surgical intervention.
“No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss – it’s really a game-changer,” said Rachel Betterham, an obesity researcher at University College London.
“For the first time, people can get through medications that were only possible through weight loss surgery.”
In addition to weight loss, participants reported improvement in other areas, showed a decrease in various cardiometabolic risk factors, and reported quality of life improvement.
While the results are impressive, semeglutide doses for anti-obesity effects come with some drawbacks.
Participants Mild-moderate effects were reported by several participants (both in the semagglutide and placebo groups), including diarrhea and diarrhea. While the effect was temporary, compared to only five in the placebo group, about 60 participants were sufficient to discontinue their treatment.
Currently, the drug requires weekly injections to work – while patients prefer the oral form of the drug.
More significantly, we do not yet have data on what happened to participants after the drug branch closed at the end of the trial.
For at least one person, however, with whom Jenny spoke The New York TimesAfter the trial was over, he began to lose weight.
“Such drugs may be useful in the short term for rapid weight loss in acute obesity, but they are not a magic pill to prevent or treat a less severe degree of obesity,” says Tom Sanders, a nutritionist and professor of nutrition at King’s College Ledge London. , Which was not associated with the study.
“Public health measures promoting behavioral changes such as regular physical activity and dietary energy moderation are still needed.”
No one can deny its wisdom, but if further analysis of semagglutide turns out to be positive, we will also find an important new pharmaceutical alternative to help fight obesity.
And that option will arrive sooner than we think.
The study, funded by the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk – which sells semaglutide as a diabetic drug – is now being presented to international health regulatory authorities as evidence in support of an application to sell the drug as a treatment for obesity.
The US FDA, along with its partners in the UK and Europe, is currently assessing the data.
These findings are reported New England Journal of Medicine.
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