Posted on 08/30/2009 3:27:00 PM PDT by RolandTignor
Researchers searching for a cure for obesity said on Thursday they have developed a drug that not only makes mice lose weight, but reverses diabetes and lowers their cholesterol, too.
The drug, which they have dubbed fatostatin, stops the body from making fat, instead releasing the energy from food. They hope it may lead to a pill that would fight obesity, diabetes and cholesterol, all at once.
Writing in the journal Chemistry and Biology, Salih Wakil of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, Motonari Uesugi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues said the drug interferes with a suite of genes turned on by overeating.
"Here, we are tackling the basics," Wakil said in a telephone interview. "I think that is what excited us."
Scientists are painfully aware that drugs that can make mice thin do nothing of the sort in humans. A hormone called leptin can make rats and mice drop weight almost miraculously but does little or nothing for an obese person, for instance.
But Wakil, whose team has patented the drug and is looking for a drug company to partner with, hopes this drug may be different. "I am very, very optimistic," he said.
Fatostatin is a small molecule, meaning it has the potential to be absorbed in pill form.
It works on so-called sterol regulatory element binding proteins or SREBPs, which are transcription factors that activate genes involved in making cholesterol and fatty acids.
"Fatostatin blocked increases in body weight, blood glucose, and hepatic (liver) fat accumulation in (genetically) obese mice, even under uncontrolled food intake," the researchers wrote.
Genetic tests showed the drug affected 63 different genes.
The idea of interfering with SREBP is not new. GlaxSmithKline has been working on a new-generation cholesterol drug that uses this pathway.
After four weeks, mice injected with fatostatin weighed 12 percent less and had 70 percent lower blood sugar levels, the researchers wrote.
Now they plan to test rats and rabbits, Wakil said.
The drug also had effects on prostate cancer cells they said -- something that may help explain links between prostate cancer and obesity.
When the looks of confusion pass over their faces I elaborate: “The Eat Less and Exercise diet.”
And it’s FREE...in fact, you save money...
Y’mean there may actually be a use for kudzu?
In his youth, my Dad worked at seeding/roadside maintenance. Maybe I should tell him atonement is in sight for the Vine that Ate the South, LOL.
It has to go somewhere.
You remodel your house in a day.
>>Y’mean there may actually be a use for kudzu?<<
They’re making bio-fuel out of it:
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=mcgee_ryan&id=3461697
>>> “What has my interest is how stomach surgery can change people’s Type II Diabetes (or metabolic syndrome) into a more normal range. Doesn’t seem to be totally related to weight loss, starts occurring right after the surgery.”
Your reduced stomach can only hold so much, and therefore carb digestion (along with everything else you eat) is reduced comparable to portion size. Right?
Are nutritional supplements prescribed for bariactric patients as well? I know of mandatory BC pills for fertile females, and that’s about the limit of my knowledge.
Funny article, thanks!
It’s just that I get this image of them planting a field of kudzu (ON PURPOSE!) because apparently only the bulbous root produces ethanol, and a chill runs up and down my spine. Those boys mean well, bless their hearts, but there will come a day when their wives kiss them goodbye and send them off to work, and that’ll be the last anybody sees of the poor fellers.
And the Europeans think genetically modified agricultural products are scary NOW...
I’ve never taken care of bariatric surgery patients, so I’m not sure what the supplement protocol is. Probably tailored to each patient’s particular needs, and any deficiencies that may develop.
My thinking is that, due to drastically reduced portion size, proper nutrient absorption would be of concern. Is the patient still deriving the nutrients needed to be healthy? in other words.
Much as I need to lose weight, I’m not sure I’d take the surgery even if it were free on my end. In my case it wouldn’t be a matter of cosmetics, but permanent alteration of body mechanics scares me. Even after all the weight has dropped, your GI system can’t return to normal, can it?
If there’s anyone who can answer that question for me, I’d appreciate it.
I can understand your reservations about the surgery, they make sense.
But, what is your plan?
Ha, ha, yes, your dad may finally have his revenge! :-)
You can lose weight and lower
your blood sugar level
with a Adkins diet.You always feel full.
It also has positive effects on
cholesterols and triglycerides.In three months I have lost twenty pounds
and lowered my BS from 225 to 135.
The plan is trying to lose weight the old fashioned way. Just isn’t going so great at the mo’. Got a lot of crap going on, life in freefall like a lot of other people right now, I guess.
Well, I will put you on my prayer list, that you be blessed with every good thing, that your life and spirits start looking up, and that God Almighty lets you know, in some way very personal and specific to you, how much He loves you.
And best wishes. We never know what’s just around the corner, do we?
Thank you for that. I can use all the help I can get! :o)
You seem to know lots about this subject — are you saying that these mast cell inhibitors only work via injection?
And that, there would be no easy cheap OTC pill-form of mast inhibitor anytime in the near future?
Also, does the anti-histamine Benadryl have any inhibatory impact upon mast cells?
Thanks.
The weight loss itself can help type II. I was showing signs of being pre-diabetic before my weight loss. Weight loss fixed it.
The “off label” use of Benadryl, as well as other inhibitors of histamine resonse, has been noted as useful with mast cell tumors in veterinary medicine, with dogs. Not aware of any human studies.
Avoirdupoistatin.
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