With ever-increasing amounts of Americans falling prey to weight problems, pharmaceutical companies are working on alternatives to help people lose weight other than good old-fashioned healthy eating and exercise.
"Disease" or "epidemic" is a term you may hear in the context of the flu, cancer or heart problems. But according to the American Obesity Association, obesity is a chronic disease, a disability and an epidemic, accounting for the second largest number of preventable deaths in the United States.
Although many efforts and campaigns focus on the prevention of obesity, treatment options and weight loss medications are receiving more attention, despite this lack of government support. But "support" does not necessarily come from the companies that produce the numerous fat-burning and diet pills we see and hear about on TV everyday.
Leading pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures everything from Aquafresh toothpaste to Nicorette gum and Tums, are also beginning to see the prospects for weight loss drugs. Currently, GSK is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its over-the-counter weight loss drug. If approved, the drug would be the only one of its kind that is available without a prescription.
Currently, over 69 million Americans are obese or severely obese, and some of them are entitled to tax breaks and disability benefits from the government. Even though obesity may be considered a medical disability and disease by the American public, the government contribution to research on obesity constitutes less than 1 percent of the National Institute of Health's annual budget.
Regardless, this has not stopped some researchers from attempting to delve into the science behind weight loss. According a study that appeared in the Oct. 28, 2005 issue of Science, Jeffrey Flier and his team of researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered that ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), which causes the proliferation of neurons in the brain of humans and mice, may present a long-lasting treatment for weight loss because of its regulatory role in the brain.
Even after the treatment of CNTF was halted in mice, the desired effects of the treatment continued, which is something not seen with the majority of other weight loss medications. In addition, the CNTF protein treatment did not induce binging, another factor that is often related to the cessation of weight loss treatments.
While the specific mechanism of action is still unexplained, it is believed that the newly-formed neurons have some signaling function in the hypothalamus, a section of the brain involved in hormonal regulation as well as the control of hunger, circadian rhythms and body temperature. Flier and his team believe the CNTF curbs the appetite of individuals who have undergone treatment because the hypothalamus may also play a role in energy-balance regulation. Future studies may also help further down the road to explain some of the interactions of these treatments at the cellular level, offering more options for combating obesity in people.
With links to diabetes, stroke, heart disease and some cancers, obesity is a growing problem in and of itself. The availability of newer, more effective treatments for weight loss, coupled with the continuation of preventive efforts against weight gain, are both important and necessary for battling this problem.
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