One
of the advantages of the BBC's new smart phone app is that I can set it
up to provide instant notification of any news stories about 'obesity',
which is now one of the specified topics under the Health section. (I
first wrote to them asking for this in 2007, by the way - the Guardian
has for many years listed all the fat stories under a keyword, allowing
fast location of those of interest). It's immensely useful for someone
interested in staying up to date on news stories around this topic, even
if the quality and tone of the articles themselves often leaves a great
deal to be desired.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31794430
According to today's notification, they're once again playing around with diet pills - medication that induces weight loss through malabsorption, appetite suppression or metabolic changes without the restrictive eating associated with conventional dieting or the dangers of surgery. When anything is regarded as the 'holy grail of modern medicine', there is inevitably immense pressure on researchers and drug companies to rush it to market before all the bugs are ironed out. And in the case of Phen-fen, one of those 'bugs' was that it destroyed users' heart valves and resulted in elevated rates of often fatal pulmonary hypertension. Only after numerous deaths and a multi-million dollar lawsuit did the makers recognise that there was a problem and pull the drug.
Then there was rimonabant, which was never approved by the FDA and withdrawn in the EU in 2009 after it became clear that it was causing major depression and even suicidal ideation in many users. A year later, sibutramine (widely seen as the great hope against obesity) was pulled from sale after reports of sudden death, heart failure and renal failure. Currently the most popular 'diet pill' is Orlistat, marketed as Redux or Alli, but this is expensive, its efficacy limited, and its side-effects embarrassing (including fecal incontinence and excessive flatulence) and potentially dangerous (early studies have linked its use with liver damage, early signs of colon cancer and inability to absorb fat-soluble vitamins).
Even so-called 'natural' supplements aren't without their risks - Ephedra, a traditional Chinese preparation from the plant of the same name, has in recent years become popular as a weight-loss supplement but was banned in the US following mounting evidence of side effects ranging from the mild (rashes, itchiness, nervousness, irritability) to the deadly (heart attacks, strokes and seizures resulting in sudden death). Currently the most popular 'herbal' fat treatment is bladderwrack, a seaweed extract widely available in pound shops and suchlike in the UK, but despite being regarded as safe, again its effectiveness has been largely dismissed.
In other words, there is no safe, effective drug-based weight loss treatment, and there is unlikely to be, because the processes which influence weight gain and loss are either complex and linked to the body's basic biological mechanisms such as appetite, metabolism, absorption of nutrients, which are difficult to manipulate without countless unwanted side effects, or like genetics, outside the realms of that which can be influenced by drug treatments. Of course, none of this will stop them trying, as it has frequently been said that the man who invents a way to make fat people safely and permanently thin (and it would most likely be a man) would become an overnight billionaire. And there we have it - one of the main motivators behind the 'war on fat people'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31794430
According to today's notification, they're once again playing around with diet pills - medication that induces weight loss through malabsorption, appetite suppression or metabolic changes without the restrictive eating associated with conventional dieting or the dangers of surgery. When anything is regarded as the 'holy grail of modern medicine', there is inevitably immense pressure on researchers and drug companies to rush it to market before all the bugs are ironed out. And in the case of Phen-fen, one of those 'bugs' was that it destroyed users' heart valves and resulted in elevated rates of often fatal pulmonary hypertension. Only after numerous deaths and a multi-million dollar lawsuit did the makers recognise that there was a problem and pull the drug.
Then there was rimonabant, which was never approved by the FDA and withdrawn in the EU in 2009 after it became clear that it was causing major depression and even suicidal ideation in many users. A year later, sibutramine (widely seen as the great hope against obesity) was pulled from sale after reports of sudden death, heart failure and renal failure. Currently the most popular 'diet pill' is Orlistat, marketed as Redux or Alli, but this is expensive, its efficacy limited, and its side-effects embarrassing (including fecal incontinence and excessive flatulence) and potentially dangerous (early studies have linked its use with liver damage, early signs of colon cancer and inability to absorb fat-soluble vitamins).
Even so-called 'natural' supplements aren't without their risks - Ephedra, a traditional Chinese preparation from the plant of the same name, has in recent years become popular as a weight-loss supplement but was banned in the US following mounting evidence of side effects ranging from the mild (rashes, itchiness, nervousness, irritability) to the deadly (heart attacks, strokes and seizures resulting in sudden death). Currently the most popular 'herbal' fat treatment is bladderwrack, a seaweed extract widely available in pound shops and suchlike in the UK, but despite being regarded as safe, again its effectiveness has been largely dismissed.
In other words, there is no safe, effective drug-based weight loss treatment, and there is unlikely to be, because the processes which influence weight gain and loss are either complex and linked to the body's basic biological mechanisms such as appetite, metabolism, absorption of nutrients, which are difficult to manipulate without countless unwanted side effects, or like genetics, outside the realms of that which can be influenced by drug treatments. Of course, none of this will stop them trying, as it has frequently been said that the man who invents a way to make fat people safely and permanently thin (and it would most likely be a man) would become an overnight billionaire. And there we have it - one of the main motivators behind the 'war on fat people'.
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