Posted on 08/03/2009 8:38:35 PM PDT by neverdem
Animal study shows over-the-counter medications lower weight and treat type 2 diabetes
Over-the-counter allergy medications turn obese, diabetic mice into healthy, normal-weight mice, researchers report.
The new research focuses on mast cells, immune system players critical to the inflammatory response involved in allergies.
The study appears along with three other independent studies in the July 26 online Nature Medicine that show a connection between type 2 diabetes and the immune system.
“Certainly the study is very exciting,” says George King of Harvard University’s Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “It’s the first type to identify mast cells as having a potential role in developing obesity.”
Researchers from Harvard and their colleagues found that the inflammatory mast cells are as much as six times more abundant in the fat tissue of obese and diabetic humans and mice than in the fat tissue of normal-weight humans and mice.
Under certain conditions (such as when a person with allergies inhales pollen), these mast cells leak inflammation-inducing molecules “like a trash bag with holes in it,” says Guo-Ping Shi, a coauthor of the study on mast cells. Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as those used in anti-allergy eye drops and nasal sprays, reduce allergic symptoms by stabilizing the mast cells, effectively putting an extra trash bag around the leaky one so inflammatory molecules can’t be released. Shi says the team was curious about whether pre-existing medicines that stabilize mast cells might also alleviate the symptoms of diabetes.
For two months, obese, diabetic mice were given one of four regimens: one group continued to eat a high-fat diet; another group was switched to healthier chow; a third stayed on the high-fat diet and was given daily injections of either Zaditor or cromolyn, two common over-the-counter allergy medications that stabilize mast cells...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
I have become much more aware of the side effects of medications, supplements, and things like MSG since my daughter was diagnosed with a seizure disorder.
I can envision Nancy and Obama getting their hands on healthcare, and it scares the crap out of me.
I know they will push things like generics and say that generics are the same as the other medication. I know that is not the case for both anti-seizure medication and for thyroid medication. For anti-seizure medication, even the coloring and other stuff they put in the generics (not the main medicine) can cause problems for epileptics. There’s been a lot of articles about it recently in the epilepsy foundation.
For thyroid medication, the level of the medication is not as consistent as it is for a brand name.
I know I’ll survive the whole socialized medicine thing, but I am truly worried about my daughter. She has seizures, a brain injury, a heart arrhythmia. I worry that they will council her about end of life transition (whatever they call it). I worry that the number of places to get EEGs and MRIs will decline. I worry about wait times (it already took us 6 weeks to schedule an EEG).
I’m going off topic, but anytime we start any thread on healthcare it starts me worrying about it.
Generics can range in potency to the reference drug .8 to 1.20 from the original. If you find a generic that works well for you ask your pharmacist what generic company produced that particular med and ask for that brand of generic each time you fill your script.
This is a bit more complicated. The effect was observed in two similar drugs, cromolyn sodium (brand name NasalCrom, 5.2mg per dose intranasal), and ketotifen fumarate (brand name Zaditor, 0.345 mg ketotifen fumarate equivalent to 0.25 mg ketotifen, eye drops.)
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/45912/title/Allergy_meds_slim_down_obese_mice
However, poor absorption in the GI tract by NasalCrom, and the tiny amount of ketotifen in the Zaditor eye drops created a similar problem. That is, they were both designed to reduce *local* mast cell degranulation, but they don’t have enough strength to affect the extensive number of mast cell clusters in the rest of the body.
This was overcome in mice by directly injecting the drugs (at higher doses), into the fat tissues where the majority of mast cells reside.
Alaway eye drops made by Bausch & Lomb contain ketotifen. They help my itchy eyes, but I haven’t noticed any difference in my weight. Maybe I should drink them instead..... just kidding.
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