Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Losing weight every week By Zosimo T. Literatus, R.M.T. Breakthroughs
“Ninety-five percent of dieters will regain all the weight lost,” wrote Alice Mahon in her book The Independent,” within two or three years. . .The average woman would not be able to drop two dress-sizes in three weeks without seriously affecting her health.”
For decades, the search for a magic pill for weight loss has become the Holy Grail in contemporary health and fitness fads. And apparently the search is still on.
A recent study, led by Katie Wynne, shows that weight can be cut by almost half a kilo in body weight weekly with the use of an experimental drug named “oxyntomodulin” injected under the skin. Wynne is a professor of metabolic medicine at the Imperial College Faculty Medicine in Hammersmith Hospital (London, UK) and a fellow of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Training.
In the study, healthy overweight and obese volunteers self-administered oxyntomodulin in a dose of 400 nmol for four weeks, three times daily, and 30 minutes before each meal.
Oxyntomodulin is a peptide produced by the proglucagon gene and released from the L-cells of the small intestine as a response to food ingestion. It is measured in the change in the levels of leptin and adiponectin in the blood (each is involved in the hunger-satiety mechanism in the body).
The results, published in Diabetes (August 2005), show that body weight at the end of the study period dropped by 2.3 kg (2.4 percent), with an average of 0.45 kg drop every week. The energy intake also dropped by 35 percent (250 kcal), compared to the five percent (or 170 kcal) drop at the initial study meal.
Leptin levels dropped and adiponectin increased, indicating a decrease in appetite that persisted beyond the study period.
Less than two percent reported adverse reactions from transient mild nausea to significant nausea that interfered with daily activities. No change in pulse rate or blood pressure had been observed.
“This reduction in energy intake,” observed Wynne, “was like due to a reduction in appetite, as there was preservation of food satisfaction and therefore no evidence of taste aversion.”
“The human tendency to search for panaceas and magic solutions,” wrote William Keegan in his book The Spectre of Capitalism, “is well represented among politicians and economists.” It would come as no surprise that politicians and economists might consider weight loss, too. (For comments and suggestions, email to ztliteratus6046@lycos.com or text to 0927-979-3519.)
