Posted on 10/26/2021 8:43:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
Novel obesity treatments such as modulation of the gut microbiome and gene therapy are underutilized and could help fight the obesity epidemic, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society’s journal, Endocrine Reviews.
Nearly half of the adults and 20 percent of children in the United States have obesity, yet doctors are under prescribing effective weight loss medications and many patients are not receiving the treatment they need. The weight stigma that exists in healthcare settings makes people with obesity hesitant to seek care until comorbidities develop and reach a dangerous stage. Lack of insurance coverage and cost issues are another factor that creates barriers to obesity treatment.
“Obesity is the epidemic crisis of our time. The disease leads to serious comorbidities such as diabetes, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease and significantly shortens a person’s length and quality of life,” said Christos S. Mantzoros, M.D., Sc.D., of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass. “Until recently we did not understand the genetic and hormonal causes of obesity and how obesity leads to these comorbidities. We have recently started to understand the causes of obesity in humans, which is a big discovery that has led to designing effective therapies.”
In the article, the researchers map out the molecular and hormonal pathways that lead to obesity and the disease’s related comorbidities. This data gives researchers the insights they need to design, test and implement new obesity therapies.
The researchers highlight the need for safer and more effective obesity therapies, including new drug delivery systems, vaccines, modulation of the gut microbiome and gene therapy. Novel medications, including combinations of gastrointestinal hormones and other molecules, are being tested and are expected to lead to significant percentages of weight loss with less side effects once available. As our understanding of obesity improves, more effective medications with fewer side effects will be developed.
Recently approved medications such as semaglutide, a modified gastrointestinal hormone administered once a week, can lead to 15% weight loss when combined with lifestyle changes. Bariatric surgery can lead to up to 40% weight loss, but it is invasive and linked to complications.
“Insurance companies need to pay attention to data from studies and the scientific progress we are making and start covering the medications that are and will be approved soon, given that currently only a small minority of patients with obesity have coverage for the medications and medical care they need,” Mantzoros said. “It would be much more cost effective to cover treatments early instead of waiting for comorbidities and their complications to develop.”
Other authors of the study include: Angeliki Angelidi and Matthew Belanger of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., and Alexander Kokkinos and Chrysi Koliaki of Laiko General Hospital in Athens, Greece. The research received no external funding.
Reference: “Novel Non-invasive Approaches to the Treatment of Obesity: From Pharmacotherapy to Gene Therapy” 26 October 2021, Endocrine Reviews.
“Humans are a very strange bunch.”
I knew a guy in the Army who loved his women fat, the fatter the better he would say.
I remember those days.
From the era when everyone still knew that if you ate a lot of “starches” you’d get fat.
Many “endomorphs” are such because they (we - it describes me too) eat the wrong things, eat too often and too much at one time.
I have lots of experience with dieting using low fat diets. They gave me bad headaches and left me feeling weak. They were not sustainable as a way of life because who wants to go thru life feeling weak and in pain?
Fasting plus keto, OTOH, is something I’ve been able to stick to for 3+ years. I’ll never look like a bodybuilder, but for the first time in my life - and I’m now in my 60s - I can see the bottom of my rib cage in the mirror!
People say that as one cuts calories (which is possible for me to do with keto and IF), one’s body metabolism slows. I think that is true. But that merely means one can live comfortably on even LESS food. Saves money. Or lets one spend one’s food budget on more expensive foods.
I’m now down to almost OMAD - One Meal A Day. What is wrong with eating one good meal a day and feeling no weakness or discomfort for the next 24 hours? Apart, that is, from modern man’s wish to eat all the damn day long!
I think the real pity is that the US Government has been blowing smoke up our butts since the 1970s. 50 years of lies, and those lies have killed far more people than COVID! 50 years of people getting fatter and fatter - and no, not because we were turning into endomorphs. Because we listened to the government and government-worshipping doctors, we’ve turned into “endomorphs” because eating wrong changes the production of hormones in your body and CREATES endomorphs!
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