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August 07, 2002

Hormone injections of a type of obesity

This is an interesting story. We are probably years away from understanding which patients will benefit from this knowledge. Hormone breakthrough in obesity

The treatment is based on injections of leptin, a hormone that appears to play a central role in suppressing appetite by informing the brain when the stomach is full.

Doctors believe its use could form the basis of a new and highly effective way to treat severe obesity.

...

Dr Ian Campbell, chairman of the UK National Obesity Forum, told BBC News Online that the treatment sounded promising.

But he warned that only a small proportion of severely obese people were deficient in leptin.

"This shows that replacing leptin can have a profound effect in achieving weight loss, but what remains to be seen is the effect leptin would have on people who are not deficient in the hormone in the first place."

We still have a lot to learn about obesity. This does not obviate the benefits of diet and exercise for the great majority of patients. Nonetheless, I find such research very interesting.

 Posted by on August 07, 2002 06:23 AM | TrackBack




Comments:

"We still have a lot to learn about obesity. This does not obviate the benefits of diet and exercise for the great majority of patients. Nonetheless, I find such research very interesting."

Agreed, though I might add necessary. The benefits of diet and exercise adjustments have been proven over and over, as you say "for the vast majority of patients", but the vast majority within that majority remain unchanging. So, "necessary."

We know some people are fine with half an hour of exercise every other day while others need an hour every day to achieve the same benefits, and we can tell which is which, but really have no idea why.

Having been obese all my life, this is something of a hobby-horse with me...

Posted by: John Anderson on August 9, 2002 01:14 AM


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It would be nice if everybody could find a doctor with half the common sense of this one. - Junkyardblog

An academic general internist comments on medical issues and the current state of medicine.

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