New Obesity Drug Lorcaserin Passes Major Safety Tests

The new obesity drug lorcaserin is in Phase 3 (final stage) trials, which are double-blind, randomized, drug trials with 3,200 patients in 100 centers in the United States. Echocardiograms were done to make sure that the new drug had no adverse effects on heart valves and so far it looks safe. Locaserin is the first in a new class of obesity drugs that target the 5-HT2C serotonin receptor, located in the hypothalamus, which regulates food intake and metabolism. The results from the Phase 2 studies showed that lorcaserin produced highly statistically significant, progressive weight loss over a 12-weeks. Lorcaserin was well tolerated at all doses in the Phase 2 drug trials and had no apparent effects on the heart valves or on the pulmonary artery pressure.

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Frequency Of Meals Can Affect Health

A recent government sponsored study results showed that eating a one-meal-per-day diet, rather than a more normal three-meal-per-day diet, is possible for a short duration. It showed that when the participants were one-mealers, they experienced negative effects such as increases in total cholesterol, LDL "bad" cholesterol and in their blood pressure, as compared to when they were three-mealers.

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Gene Regulation Affects Onset Of Obesity and Other Diseases

Epigenetics which refers to gene expression and regulation is a rapidly advancing science. A new study of obese patients in Iceland has offered new insights as to how some genes are regulated and associated.Gene variations create either increased or decreased chances of developing obesity or type II diabetes by regulating the activity of major biochemical pathways. The result is that gene variants determine an individuals risk of developing these problems. Most of the population has roughly average risk and smaller numbers of people have either much higher or lower risk.

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Study: Lead exposure may lead to obesity

Exposure to lead a toxic heavy metal found in older homes in the form of lead paint and some imported ceramic products may affect the unborn offspring of pregnant women. A study of mice looking at the effects of chronic low level lead exposure appears to subtly influence weight gain in the mice that are born to these females. If you needed another reason to avoid exposure to lead you've got one.

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Viral Infections May Be Linked To Obesity

This is not a brand new story but is of interest because it highlight s the complex nature of the problem. Contrary to much popular thinking that excessive weight is strictly a personal weakness, this story shows that specific types of viral infections ultimately lead to increased chance of weight gain in susceptible individuals. When researchers infected animal subjects with a human virus known as Human Adenovirus -36, they reported measurable increases in the infected animals' body fat and the visceral fat that surrounds the organs deep within the belly. In addition, studies also demonstrated that infection with Ad-36 and the resulting weight gain could be transmitted from infected animals to uninfected animals. There are numerous articles on this topic and here are two:

story here

and here

Carb-cutting Enzyme Stopped By Bean Extract, Endocrinologists Say

Can beans make you lose weight? Well an extract derived from white kidney beans may be able to help you lose weight by interfering with carbohydrate breakdown in your body thus causing weight loss.

UCLA researchers have found an extract in white kidney beans may help the body stop carbs from breaking down into sugars. A digestive enzyme in the body normally acts like scissors, literally cutting starches into little sugars. Phase 2 stops the enzyme from cutting, so the starches stay in the body as long fibers and are burned off quicker. Patients in the clinical studies who took Phase 2 lost body fat, not lean muscle.

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Is The Obesity Epidemic Exaggerated?

A recent British Medical Journal article suggests that claims about an obesity epidemic often exceed the scientific evidence and mistakenly suggest an unjustified degree of certainty, argue Patrick Basham and John Luik.

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