9 ms·

Drug for treating obesity cuts body weight by 20 percent

86 points by LinuxBender 6y ago

blakesterz 6y ago
One third (35%) of people who took a new drug for treating obesity lost more than one-fifth (greater than or equal to 20%) of their total body weight, according to a major global study involving UCL researchers. The drug, semaglutide, works by hijacking the body's own appetite regulating system in the brain leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake. Three quarters (75%) of people who received semaglutide 2.4mg lost more than 10% of their body weight and more than one-third lost more than 20%. No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss -- this really is a gamechanger. The drug possesses a compound structurally similar to (and mimics) the human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which is released into the blood from the gut after meals.
- zikzak 6y ago
  I think it is important to note that a 10% drop (if mostly fat) can bring significant quality of life improvements for people who are experiencing issues related to obesity. Imagine you walk around with a 30 lbs bag of flour on your back all the time. Then, all of a sudden, you are able to put that bag down. The faster you lose weight (this is all anecdotal) the more it is like putting that bag down all at once. Now, can they keep the weight of after losing it? Because I can gain those 30 lbs back very, very quickly.
  - engineer_22 6y ago
    If the drug can be administered long term, perhaps there is hope they will keep the weight off.
    - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
      If it is the same as the glucagon hormone mentioned by the grandparent comment, it SHOULD be 'natural' and have no side effects. But just look at reproductive hormone treatments (the pill) to see how things like this can go wrong (serious mental side effects; my sister struggled with seasonal depression for half her life, turns out it was just the pill. My girlfriend developed suicidal ideation from the Mirena coil. They stopped a research in male anticonception medication because of the mood swings).
  - pratik661 6y ago
    I was overweight when the pandemic started (24% bf). I lost 10% of my body weight in a few months. It’s insane how much your athletic ability jumps just from that. I used to work out intensely before and would make marginal improvements in stamina/speed/etc.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    In my experience it is losing the initial weight that is the easy part and keeping it off long term that's hard. However the mechanism the drug uses sounds promising that regard (assuming your body doesn't adapt to it), although it would mean adding another lifetime drug to my list.
  - P_I_Staker 6y ago
    Yeah, I have sleep apnea and GERD, likely related to obesity (I drank beer and coffee constantly for my entire adult life too though; coffee so I could work, beer after to relax)... but I'm wondering how much is related to obesity. I can feel the fat pushing and creating pressure points, which contributes to both conditions. The crazy thing, is I'm not like super fat or anything. 6'2" 245lbs was my max, and I'm at 235lbs now... I felt perfectly fine at 225 when I worked out. Seems like such a small difference, but I've gotten virtually no exercise with covid, so it's not a fair comparison. That's enough for obesity, but the crazy thing is it's not considered fat at all in the USA, if you're a guy. You just "aren't in your early 20s anymore", or have a "dad bod", or you're a loveable jolly rascal that loves life (eg. Chris Pratt in P&R). We act like it's practically inevitable and not a horrific medical condition that's causing me to be eaten from the inside out by my own acid. I know some of this is just luck, but I wonder what truly fat people have to deal with. I couldn't imagine my reflux being better if I was say 275-300+.
    - sn9 6y ago
      Parts 6 and 7 of this Youtube series on the risks of obesity are on sleep apnea and GERD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnVgbUHtKI&list=PLyqKj7LwU2Rt-rwTADidq3JDJjv9_W2aV&index=13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnVgbUHtKI&list=PLyqKj7LwU2...
- notjustanymike 6y ago
  Hearing about a drug that hijacks the body's appetite makes me feel like we're in the prologue to a zombie movie.
  - 0x1F8B 6y ago
    The global virus pandemic that is responsible for a total lockdown and a multitude of deaths and spread immediately via global transportation system wasn't enough for you?
    - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
      Worse, it's mutating! It's just like most zombie movie plots. None of those predicted the hoarding of toilet paper though.
    - notjustanymike 6y ago
      Maybe we're just hedging our bets for multiple zombie movies?
  - rhino369 6y ago
    Plenty of drugs do things that sound scarier to me--a layperson. SSRIs change the way you think and feel. Pain killers hijack your nervous system so you don't feel pain.
  - petra 6y ago
    Are zombies such a big problem , given modern weapons and armies/police ?
    - dagw 6y ago
      Have you read World War Z? It covers that very question in great detail. One problem it highlights is that modern armies and military tactics are incredibly inefficient. The amount of fuel, munitions and calories they use for every kill is staggering. Also much of modern military tactics are based around putting on a massive show of force up front and hoping the enemy surrenders or retreats. That is not a problem if you only have to kill a few thousand people who's spirit to fight can be broken, and you're backed up by a fully functional logistics network. Remove the logistics network and face off against an 'army' of hunderds of thousands of enemies that will never retreat then those tactics will quickly see your fuel and munition stores depleted. Towards the end of the book the Army has reinvented the infantry square and equipped all their soldiers with bolt action rifles to stop them wasting ammo.
- baybal2 6y ago
  The drug doesn't actually "burn" fat, as the previous headline suggested, but reduces appetite. All known drugs that actually trick the body into burning more fat are kind of dangerous, some are lethally dangerous from a single overdose. And they would reduce the appetite, oppositely some cause monstrous appetite. I'm 80-85kg 173cm man. Months of strenuous exercise doesn't barely make me reach 78-79. Though they do make me feel much better, and energetic. A therapy needs to do both, somehow make the body consume more energy from fat specifically, and not cause excess appetite. This can be one leg of that.
  - computerphage 6y ago
    > somehow make the body consume more energy from fat specifically Any way to achieve a calorie deficit will accomplish this. There doesn't have to be a second drug to make your body use fat as energy once you've already given it no other choice.
A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
It is interesting, but the major turn off is that since it is primarily a diabetic drug, it messes with your blood sugar. From get go, you will want to control your sugar and/or follow strict diet. Granted, those turn offs are for people without diabetes. People with it already have to follow that routine in their life. All that said, it is better to have more tools than less given US population increased obesity rates.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- yonaguska 6y ago
  If your weight is that serious of a concern, diabetes will be the next step anyways.
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  Thankfully, drugs should be a means of last resort; most people should be able to make do with some lifestyle changes / tweaks.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  The impact on blood sugar is to reduce it, or so. That's not a bad thing. Diabetics that inject insulin (and/or take some other drugs) have to watch for low blood sugar, but it is high blood sugar that does most of the long term damage associated with diabetes. Someone that frequently has low blood sugar should probably adjust their diet, but that's anyway going to be part of a weight loss regimen.
lez 6y ago
The game hasn't changed a bit in my opinion. People want miracle pills rather than educate themselves about how the body works, reducing toxic content in foods, healing underlying infections, taking care about minerals and vitamins, take on habit to do sports regularly, have good sleep, etc. I prefer digging down to the root cause more than suppressing symptoms.
- farias0 6y ago
  I for one think changing human nature is harder than creating an appetite suppressing drug, and indeed it seems we arrived on the latter earlier. So if it works it works, right?
  - animal_spirits 6y ago
    I think it is better for humans to be able to control themselves than be controlled by pills.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
      It is my choice to use drugs to assist in achieving my life goals. I've been doing it without drugs for a decade now and it's fucking hard and I don't appreciate assholes who imply otherwise.
      - animal_spirits 6y ago
        I'm not shaming you or anyone for taking drugs, not at all. I think drugs can be great and can do great things for a lot of people. I take certain drugs myself on occasion. What I am trying to say is that someone might not be able to control their appetite, but they do have at least some control over the food they put in their body. I think that education on nutrition can go a much longer way for overall human health than appetite pills.
        AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
lukevp 6y ago
> In those taking semaglutide, the average weight loss was 15.3kg (nearly three stone), with a reduction in BMI of -5.54. The placebo group observed an average weight loss of 2.6kg (0.4 stone) with a reduction in BMI of -0.92. This seems like an incredible difference. And 94% of participants made it through the whole study. What are the downsides here, or what am I missing? It’s an already approved medication that’s normally used in smaller doses, so only the safety in larger doses needs to be validated?
- xvector 6y ago
  According to another comment, thyroid cancer risk
- s1artibartfast 6y ago
  All of the known side effects for drugs can be found in the prescribing information https://www.novo-pi.com/ozempic.pdf https://www.novo-pi.com/ozempic.pdf Potential side effects include thyroid cancer, kidney problems, blindness, allergic reactions, low blood sugar, and pancreatitis
need_advice_2 6y ago
There is a small study on another drug called Bupropion that says that Bupropion leads to a 5% in weight loss in the first 8 weeks when compared to placebo. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557835/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557835/ Bupropion is also used as an antidepressant and antismoking drug. I am taking Bupropion to treat my depression and it helps me - at least I think it does. I also think it helped me to loose a little bit of weight. I have observed myself and with Bupropion I simply want to do stuff, go out for a walk, meet friends etc. Instead of being in bed all day. I think this is how it helps me do both: improve my depression and lose weight at the same time. I might be totally wrong though since I have no idea regarding the actual mechanics of Bupropion and I may simply experience the "placebo-effect".
- ddorian43 6y ago
  Yeah Bupropion is also used a little for ADHD. It has those effects a little. Hell, there are people abusing it for those effects. And ADHD meds were used previously for loosing weight. I think it will be the same with Bupropion.
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    Yeah a known side effect of some (most?) ADHD medication is loss of appetite.
    - tclancy 6y ago
      I mean, Adderall is speed. Mother's Little Helper, what made for punk music, etc. Not a drug associated with weight gain.
- aweiland 6y ago
  Bupropion's brand name is Wellbutrin for anyone wondering.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 6y ago
foobears42 6y ago
Or you could just choose to eat good foods at the proper amount. All this study, science, drugs, surgery, etc. Just to achieve nothing more than than eating normally would achieve. But an appetite drug sounds like a better option than having parts of the stomach and intestines surgically removed.
- disce_pati 6y ago
  not so easily done for those with eating disorders.
- CabSauce 6y ago
  Do you really think people are choosing to be extremely obese?
  - foobears42 6y ago
    They don't want the consequences of overeating. But yes, I do believe they choose to eat the amounts they do.
    - burlesona 6y ago
      Here’s an interesting fact: if you’re insulin resistant (more than half the population is), then you could have a “healthy” meal like a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, and the body’s poor insulin response actually forces all the carbs you just ate into your fat cells while denying your body fuel, thus making you hungrier. To overcome this you have to eat enough carb to still have fuel available even after your fat metabolism is satisfied. So the heavier you are the more you have to eat before you have fuel available to your body. It’s very, very difficult to overcome genetics.
      - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
        In those cases, is there medication or treatment available to help deal with the insulin response? I know hyper / hypothyroidism is a thing as well (although research has shown -thyroidism may not influence weight significantly: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711558/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711558/)
marcodiego 6y ago
There is a very interesting case of a man who spent more than one year without eating solid food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast He lost 125kg.
- fasteddie31003 6y ago
  Yea I just fast for a couple of days whenever I get above 190 lbs. It has great benefits besides my weight. However most lazy Americans don't have the mental will power to fast so they either get fat or have to pop a pill like this.
- retzkek 6y ago
  Fasting, both intermittent (< 24 hr) and extended, are increasingly being recognized as powerful tools to lose weight and cure/prevent diet-related conditions like diabetes and metabolic disorder, thanks to the work of people like Drs. Peter Attia and Jason Fung. In my experience IF is an easy way to cut out excess calories, and EF gives me amazing energy and mental clarity, while helping me have a healthier relationship with food. My simplistic view on fasting is that my body stored all that excess energy as fat for the purpose of being used when food is not so readily available, a situation that may have been common in the not-too-distant past but just doesn't happen for me or most Americans today; therefore it's incumbent on me to restrict food occasionally and let the body use these stores, while performing other maintenance that is limited when digestion is occurring (notably autophagy). Note: when I refer to fasting I mean water-only (also non-caloric drinks like tea and coffee), with electrolyte supplementation for extended fasts.
  - marcodiego 6y ago
    I'm not an anthropologist of biologist, but I think modern life is basically incompatible with how humans evolved. I mean, we are hunters. If we do not spend the the energy to hunt what we eat, it seems clear that we get obese. Our natural instincts tell us to eat as much as we can whenever food is available. This is because we evolved without any guarantee of frequent meals. Post food-scarcity society seems basically against our natural instincts.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
howmayiannoyyou 6y ago
I've lost 30lbs on combination therapy of oral semaglutide (Rybelsus) and low dose naltrexone. There's some side-effects but nothing earth shattering. If I'm not mistaken the drug carries a thyroid cancer risk warning which hopefully applies only to the rodent testing group where it appeared.
nybblesio 6y ago
The cash price for this drug in the US is insane: https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic?dosage=2-pens-of-1mg&form=carton&label_override=Ozempic&quantity=1&sort_type=popularity https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic?dosage=2-pens-of-1mg&form=car... I can only imagine the fight people will have with their insurance. One of the many reasons we can't have nice things.
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  So the motivation was money. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
- Natfan 6y ago
  What does this actually say? The site is blocked to those of us outside of the US, probably because the website owners can't be bothered to comply with GDPR?
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    Short version: lowest price for a carton (2 pens) is >$800. I would guess that each pen is a single dose.
    - ta988 6y ago
      Not even... 2.4mg a week in the study, each pen is 1mg
      - ladi12 6y ago
        My mother uses this drug by perscription. 1mg pen is for four weekly 0,25 mg doses (1 month).2 mg pen is again for four weekly 0.5mg doses. Realy good results and only one aplication per week, which is great. We are from Slovenia. Drug is free of charge with normal insurance.
  - zests 6y ago
    $950 and $900 with coupon. It looks like for two doses.
FriedrichN 6y ago
Let me preface this with that I am aware that hunger and fullness are very much genetically determined and that that dictates to a large degree how fat you'll be. But there's this thing that when people get some sort of diagnosis they'll act like it's something you have absolutely influence on and the only way is to have some sort of external intervention or declare "that's just the way I am". You just have to look at how many patients gain back large amounts of weight after getting their stomachs stapled. Exercise has a positive correlation with controlling hunger, eating differently can also greatly increase fullness and reduce hunger, cutting alcohol from the diet does absolute wonders. Maybe it won't get you to a 'beach lean' physique, but it will for sure make you more healthy. If this drug is truly effective it will only save the patient from the direct effects of obesity, not the effects of sustaining a poor diet, a lack of exercise, or overconsumption of alcohol.
- pier25 6y ago
  > hunger and fullness are very much genetically determined and that that dictates to a large degree how fat you'll be Do you have any good source on that?
  - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
    I don't think you should be posing a challange to folks to prove well-known facts that are a single single google search away.
    - s1artibartfast 6y ago
      It is far from a well-known fact. IT is clearly disproved by looking at weight across countries and throughout time. The average American male weight has gone from 165 in 1960 to 200lbs in 2020. Obesity has gone from 15% to 45% in the same period. Genetics have not rapidly changed in this time period. https://images.app.goo.gl/YKogsucsMD1DUMKf6 https://images.app.goo.gl/YKogsucsMD1DUMKf6
      - ClumsyPilot 6y ago
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
I really like the taste of good food. I would hate to lose my interest. I'd rather try to eat less really good food, than have 'enough' of something I quit caring about?
- meowster 6y ago
  If I had the choice of losing my sense of taste for the rest of my life in exchange for being phycially-fit, I would do it in a heart beat. There is so much more to life than tasting food, and a lot more exciting things in life become more accessible when you're physically-fit. I'm relatively young, and not that overweight, but the last 40 pounds or so are going to be the hardest, and the most fulfilling to lose.
hourislate 6y ago
Here is a drug free way to fight 99% of the obesity out there. If you drink soda, stop. If you eat fast food, stop. If you're eating processed food, stop. If you snack, stop. These alone will have an incredible affect on your weight and health. If this all seems to difficult, start off with just one, like cutting out sugary drinks (pop, juice) and don't substitute with artificial sweeteners. You are being attacked by big food. They are killing you. You will notice results in weight loss and health by making small changes to your eating habits.
- muldvarp 6y ago
  I personally find it much easier to change how much I eat than what I eat. So I started with that and only changed what I ate after I already lost some weight.
  - sawmurai 6y ago
    Yes, install a tracker app, track what you eat to get baseline. Increase / decrease average weekly consumption based on your long term goal. Wait until the results set it.
- ykevinator 6y ago
  You're falling into a logic flaw that if you can do it, I can do it. You can't make yourself taller. The data is clear, we couldn't possibly all just be failing to be more like you, right? "just be more like me" is the lazy logic that lucky people have been telling unlucky people for centuries and it doesn't solve the societal problem, it just makes the speaker feel validated.
exabrial 6y ago
My only concern with this is the quality of food people are eating. There was a self-study performed by a research professor awhile back where he consumed nothing but Twinkie's for several months but stayed under has caloric needs, and unsurprisingly, he lost weight. However, consuming that amount of refined sugar and fat will undoubtedly lead to long term health problems. I'm not saying it's all bad :) but patients on this medicine need to make diet [and to a lesser extent exercise] changes as well. I'm sure this is already considered.
gitanovic 6y ago
I started taking some probiotics, two different kinds each day for more than one month. In particular I had one containing among others saccaromyces boulardii and one containing lactobacillus reuteri I lost around 5% of my body weight by not being so hungry any more. I think this is due to a reduction of my suspect candidosa which was making me always crave for sugar. As a plus I am also less humoral, and don't have mental fog any more. I think of the human microbioma like a patch to human biology system, while DNA is the blueprint. That said please bear in mind that I am no doctor, I have no medical or biological education... so take it for what it is, a very personal experience with also no statistical value
- jl2718 6y ago
  Gut microflora convert fiber to capric acid, which is a great source of steady nutrition without insulin for many hours after ingestion.
ecf 6y ago
I’m worried about the result that mass adopted drugs like these would have on society. I’d wager that it would lead to a massive increase in consumption instead of allowing people to get healthy and then stay that way.
- Cartographer54 6y ago
  This drug reduces appetite which would mean less consumption overall (since overweight people are eating less). If it was a drug that magically got rid of fat, it'd be a different story

86 points by LinuxBender 6y ago

One third (35%) of people who took a new drug for treating obesity lost more than one-fifth (greater than or equal to 20%) of their total body weight, according to a major global study involving UCL researchers. The drug, semaglutide, works by hijacking the body's own appetite regulating system in the brain leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake. Three quarters (75%) of people who received semaglutide 2.4mg lost more than 10% of their body weight and more than one-third lost more than 20%. No other drug has come close to producing this level of weight loss -- this really is a gamechanger. The drug possesses a compound structurally similar to (and mimics) the human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which is released into the blood from the gut after meals.

zikzak 6y ago
I think it is important to note that a 10% drop (if mostly fat) can bring significant quality of life improvements for people who are experiencing issues related to obesity. Imagine you walk around with a 30 lbs bag of flour on your back all the time. Then, all of a sudden, you are able to put that bag down. The faster you lose weight (this is all anecdotal) the more it is like putting that bag down all at once. Now, can they keep the weight of after losing it? Because I can gain those 30 lbs back very, very quickly.
- engineer_22 6y ago
  If the drug can be administered long term, perhaps there is hope they will keep the weight off.
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    If it is the same as the glucagon hormone mentioned by the grandparent comment, it SHOULD be 'natural' and have no side effects. But just look at reproductive hormone treatments (the pill) to see how things like this can go wrong (serious mental side effects; my sister struggled with seasonal depression for half her life, turns out it was just the pill. My girlfriend developed suicidal ideation from the Mirena coil. They stopped a research in male anticonception medication because of the mood swings).
- pratik661 6y ago
  I was overweight when the pandemic started (24% bf). I lost 10% of my body weight in a few months. It’s insane how much your athletic ability jumps just from that. I used to work out intensely before and would make marginal improvements in stamina/speed/etc.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  In my experience it is losing the initial weight that is the easy part and keeping it off long term that's hard. However the mechanism the drug uses sounds promising that regard (assuming your body doesn't adapt to it), although it would mean adding another lifetime drug to my list.
- P_I_Staker 6y ago
  Yeah, I have sleep apnea and GERD, likely related to obesity (I drank beer and coffee constantly for my entire adult life too though; coffee so I could work, beer after to relax)... but I'm wondering how much is related to obesity. I can feel the fat pushing and creating pressure points, which contributes to both conditions. The crazy thing, is I'm not like super fat or anything. 6'2" 245lbs was my max, and I'm at 235lbs now... I felt perfectly fine at 225 when I worked out. Seems like such a small difference, but I've gotten virtually no exercise with covid, so it's not a fair comparison. That's enough for obesity, but the crazy thing is it's not considered fat at all in the USA, if you're a guy. You just "aren't in your early 20s anymore", or have a "dad bod", or you're a loveable jolly rascal that loves life (eg. Chris Pratt in P&R). We act like it's practically inevitable and not a horrific medical condition that's causing me to be eaten from the inside out by my own acid. I know some of this is just luck, but I wonder what truly fat people have to deal with. I couldn't imagine my reflux being better if I was say 275-300+.
  - sn9 6y ago
    Parts 6 and 7 of this Youtube series on the risks of obesity are on sleep apnea and GERD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnVgbUHtKI&list=PLyqKj7LwU2Rt-rwTADidq3JDJjv9_W2aV&index=13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnVgbUHtKI&list=PLyqKj7LwU2...
notjustanymike 6y ago
Hearing about a drug that hijacks the body's appetite makes me feel like we're in the prologue to a zombie movie.
- 0x1F8B 6y ago
  The global virus pandemic that is responsible for a total lockdown and a multitude of deaths and spread immediately via global transportation system wasn't enough for you?
  - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    Worse, it's mutating! It's just like most zombie movie plots. None of those predicted the hoarding of toilet paper though.
  - notjustanymike 6y ago
    Maybe we're just hedging our bets for multiple zombie movies?
- rhino369 6y ago
  Plenty of drugs do things that sound scarier to me--a layperson. SSRIs change the way you think and feel. Pain killers hijack your nervous system so you don't feel pain.
- petra 6y ago
  Are zombies such a big problem , given modern weapons and armies/police ?
  - dagw 6y ago
    Have you read World War Z? It covers that very question in great detail. One problem it highlights is that modern armies and military tactics are incredibly inefficient. The amount of fuel, munitions and calories they use for every kill is staggering. Also much of modern military tactics are based around putting on a massive show of force up front and hoping the enemy surrenders or retreats. That is not a problem if you only have to kill a few thousand people who's spirit to fight can be broken, and you're backed up by a fully functional logistics network. Remove the logistics network and face off against an 'army' of hunderds of thousands of enemies that will never retreat then those tactics will quickly see your fuel and munition stores depleted. Towards the end of the book the Army has reinvented the infantry square and equipped all their soldiers with bolt action rifles to stop them wasting ammo.
baybal2 6y ago
The drug doesn't actually "burn" fat, as the previous headline suggested, but reduces appetite. All known drugs that actually trick the body into burning more fat are kind of dangerous, some are lethally dangerous from a single overdose. And they would reduce the appetite, oppositely some cause monstrous appetite. I'm 80-85kg 173cm man. Months of strenuous exercise doesn't barely make me reach 78-79. Though they do make me feel much better, and energetic. A therapy needs to do both, somehow make the body consume more energy from fat specifically, and not cause excess appetite. This can be one leg of that.
- computerphage 6y ago
  > somehow make the body consume more energy from fat specifically Any way to achieve a calorie deficit will accomplish this. There doesn't have to be a second drug to make your body use fat as energy once you've already given it no other choice.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago

It is interesting, but the major turn off is that since it is primarily a diabetic drug, it messes with your blood sugar. From get go, you will want to control your sugar and/or follow strict diet. Granted, those turn offs are for people without diabetes. People with it already have to follow that routine in their life. All that said, it is better to have more tools than less given US population increased obesity rates.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
yonaguska 6y ago
If your weight is that serious of a concern, diabetes will be the next step anyways.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
Thankfully, drugs should be a means of last resort; most people should be able to make do with some lifestyle changes / tweaks.
maxerickson 6y ago
The impact on blood sugar is to reduce it, or so. That's not a bad thing. Diabetics that inject insulin (and/or take some other drugs) have to watch for low blood sugar, but it is high blood sugar that does most of the long term damage associated with diabetes. Someone that frequently has low blood sugar should probably adjust their diet, but that's anyway going to be part of a weight loss regimen.

lez 6y ago

The game hasn't changed a bit in my opinion. People want miracle pills rather than educate themselves about how the body works, reducing toxic content in foods, healing underlying infections, taking care about minerals and vitamins, take on habit to do sports regularly, have good sleep, etc. I prefer digging down to the root cause more than suppressing symptoms.

farias0 6y ago
I for one think changing human nature is harder than creating an appetite suppressing drug, and indeed it seems we arrived on the latter earlier. So if it works it works, right?
- animal_spirits 6y ago
  I think it is better for humans to be able to control themselves than be controlled by pills.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    It is my choice to use drugs to assist in achieving my life goals. I've been doing it without drugs for a decade now and it's fucking hard and I don't appreciate assholes who imply otherwise.
    - animal_spirits 6y ago
      I'm not shaming you or anyone for taking drugs, not at all. I think drugs can be great and can do great things for a lot of people. I take certain drugs myself on occasion. What I am trying to say is that someone might not be able to control their appetite, but they do have at least some control over the food they put in their body. I think that education on nutrition can go a much longer way for overall human health than appetite pills.
      - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

lukevp 6y ago

> In those taking semaglutide, the average weight loss was 15.3kg (nearly three stone), with a reduction in BMI of -5.54. The placebo group observed an average weight loss of 2.6kg (0.4 stone) with a reduction in BMI of -0.92. This seems like an incredible difference. And 94% of participants made it through the whole study. What are the downsides here, or what am I missing? It’s an already approved medication that’s normally used in smaller doses, so only the safety in larger doses needs to be validated?

xvector 6y ago
According to another comment, thyroid cancer risk
s1artibartfast 6y ago
All of the known side effects for drugs can be found in the prescribing information https://www.novo-pi.com/ozempic.pdf https://www.novo-pi.com/ozempic.pdf Potential side effects include thyroid cancer, kidney problems, blindness, allergic reactions, low blood sugar, and pancreatitis

need_advice_2 6y ago

There is a small study on another drug called Bupropion that says that Bupropion leads to a 5% in weight loss in the first 8 weeks when compared to placebo. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557835/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11557835/ Bupropion is also used as an antidepressant and antismoking drug. I am taking Bupropion to treat my depression and it helps me - at least I think it does. I also think it helped me to loose a little bit of weight. I have observed myself and with Bupropion I simply want to do stuff, go out for a walk, meet friends etc. Instead of being in bed all day. I think this is how it helps me do both: improve my depression and lose weight at the same time. I might be totally wrong though since I have no idea regarding the actual mechanics of Bupropion and I may simply experience the "placebo-effect".

ddorian43 6y ago
Yeah Bupropion is also used a little for ADHD. It has those effects a little. Hell, there are people abusing it for those effects. And ADHD meds were used previously for loosing weight. I think it will be the same with Bupropion.
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  Yeah a known side effect of some (most?) ADHD medication is loss of appetite.
  - tclancy 6y ago
    I mean, Adderall is speed. Mother's Little Helper, what made for punk music, etc. Not a drug associated with weight gain.
aweiland 6y ago
Bupropion's brand name is Wellbutrin for anyone wondering.
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6y ago

foobears42 6y ago

Or you could just choose to eat good foods at the proper amount. All this study, science, drugs, surgery, etc. Just to achieve nothing more than than eating normally would achieve. But an appetite drug sounds like a better option than having parts of the stomach and intestines surgically removed.

disce_pati 6y ago
not so easily done for those with eating disorders.
CabSauce 6y ago
Do you really think people are choosing to be extremely obese?
- foobears42 6y ago
  They don't want the consequences of overeating. But yes, I do believe they choose to eat the amounts they do.
  - burlesona 6y ago
    Here’s an interesting fact: if you’re insulin resistant (more than half the population is), then you could have a “healthy” meal like a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, and the body’s poor insulin response actually forces all the carbs you just ate into your fat cells while denying your body fuel, thus making you hungrier. To overcome this you have to eat enough carb to still have fuel available even after your fat metabolism is satisfied. So the heavier you are the more you have to eat before you have fuel available to your body. It’s very, very difficult to overcome genetics.
    - Cthulhu_ 6y ago
      In those cases, is there medication or treatment available to help deal with the insulin response? I know hyper / hypothyroidism is a thing as well (although research has shown -thyroidism may not influence weight significantly: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711558/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6711558/)

marcodiego 6y ago

There is a very interesting case of a man who spent more than one year without eating solid food: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast He lost 125kg.

fasteddie31003 6y ago
Yea I just fast for a couple of days whenever I get above 190 lbs. It has great benefits besides my weight. However most lazy Americans don't have the mental will power to fast so they either get fat or have to pop a pill like this.
retzkek 6y ago
Fasting, both intermittent (< 24 hr) and extended, are increasingly being recognized as powerful tools to lose weight and cure/prevent diet-related conditions like diabetes and metabolic disorder, thanks to the work of people like Drs. Peter Attia and Jason Fung. In my experience IF is an easy way to cut out excess calories, and EF gives me amazing energy and mental clarity, while helping me have a healthier relationship with food. My simplistic view on fasting is that my body stored all that excess energy as fat for the purpose of being used when food is not so readily available, a situation that may have been common in the not-too-distant past but just doesn't happen for me or most Americans today; therefore it's incumbent on me to restrict food occasionally and let the body use these stores, while performing other maintenance that is limited when digestion is occurring (notably autophagy). Note: when I refer to fasting I mean water-only (also non-caloric drinks like tea and coffee), with electrolyte supplementation for extended fasts.
- marcodiego 6y ago
  I'm not an anthropologist of biologist, but I think modern life is basically incompatible with how humans evolved. I mean, we are hunters. If we do not spend the the energy to hunt what we eat, it seems clear that we get obese. Our natural instincts tell us to eat as much as we can whenever food is available. This is because we evolved without any guarantee of frequent meals. Post food-scarcity society seems basically against our natural instincts.

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howmayiannoyyou 6y ago

I've lost 30lbs on combination therapy of oral semaglutide (Rybelsus) and low dose naltrexone. There's some side-effects but nothing earth shattering. If I'm not mistaken the drug carries a thyroid cancer risk warning which hopefully applies only to the rodent testing group where it appeared.

nybblesio 6y ago

The cash price for this drug in the US is insane: https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic?dosage=2-pens-of-1mg&form=carton&label_override=Ozempic&quantity=1&sort_type=popularity https://www.goodrx.com/ozempic?dosage=2-pens-of-1mg&form=car... I can only imagine the fight people will have with their insurance. One of the many reasons we can't have nice things.

Cthulhu_ 6y ago
So the motivation was money. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Natfan 6y ago
What does this actually say? The site is blocked to those of us outside of the US, probably because the website owners can't be bothered to comply with GDPR?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  Short version: lowest price for a carton (2 pens) is >$800. I would guess that each pen is a single dose.
  - ta988 6y ago
    Not even... 2.4mg a week in the study, each pen is 1mg
    - ladi12 6y ago
      My mother uses this drug by perscription. 1mg pen is for four weekly 0,25 mg doses (1 month).2 mg pen is again for four weekly 0.5mg doses. Realy good results and only one aplication per week, which is great. We are from Slovenia. Drug is free of charge with normal insurance.
- zests 6y ago
  $950 and $900 with coupon. It looks like for two doses.

FriedrichN 6y ago

Let me preface this with that I am aware that hunger and fullness are very much genetically determined and that that dictates to a large degree how fat you'll be. But there's this thing that when people get some sort of diagnosis they'll act like it's something you have absolutely influence on and the only way is to have some sort of external intervention or declare "that's just the way I am". You just have to look at how many patients gain back large amounts of weight after getting their stomachs stapled. Exercise has a positive correlation with controlling hunger, eating differently can also greatly increase fullness and reduce hunger, cutting alcohol from the diet does absolute wonders. Maybe it won't get you to a 'beach lean' physique, but it will for sure make you more healthy. If this drug is truly effective it will only save the patient from the direct effects of obesity, not the effects of sustaining a poor diet, a lack of exercise, or overconsumption of alcohol.

pier25 6y ago
> hunger and fullness are very much genetically determined and that that dictates to a large degree how fat you'll be Do you have any good source on that?
- ClumsyPilot 6y ago
  I don't think you should be posing a challange to folks to prove well-known facts that are a single single google search away.
  - s1artibartfast 6y ago
    It is far from a well-known fact. IT is clearly disproved by looking at weight across countries and throughout time. The average American male weight has gone from 165 in 1960 to 200lbs in 2020. Obesity has gone from 15% to 45% in the same period. Genetics have not rapidly changed in this time period. https://images.app.goo.gl/YKogsucsMD1DUMKf6 https://images.app.goo.gl/YKogsucsMD1DUMKf6
    - ClumsyPilot 6y ago

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

I really like the taste of good food. I would hate to lose my interest. I'd rather try to eat less really good food, than have 'enough' of something I quit caring about?

meowster 6y ago
If I had the choice of losing my sense of taste for the rest of my life in exchange for being phycially-fit, I would do it in a heart beat. There is so much more to life than tasting food, and a lot more exciting things in life become more accessible when you're physically-fit. I'm relatively young, and not that overweight, but the last 40 pounds or so are going to be the hardest, and the most fulfilling to lose.

hourislate 6y ago

Here is a drug free way to fight 99% of the obesity out there. If you drink soda, stop. If you eat fast food, stop. If you're eating processed food, stop. If you snack, stop. These alone will have an incredible affect on your weight and health. If this all seems to difficult, start off with just one, like cutting out sugary drinks (pop, juice) and don't substitute with artificial sweeteners. You are being attacked by big food. They are killing you. You will notice results in weight loss and health by making small changes to your eating habits.

muldvarp 6y ago
I personally find it much easier to change how much I eat than what I eat. So I started with that and only changed what I ate after I already lost some weight.
- sawmurai 6y ago
  Yes, install a tracker app, track what you eat to get baseline. Increase / decrease average weekly consumption based on your long term goal. Wait until the results set it.
ykevinator 6y ago
You're falling into a logic flaw that if you can do it, I can do it. You can't make yourself taller. The data is clear, we couldn't possibly all just be failing to be more like you, right? "just be more like me" is the lazy logic that lucky people have been telling unlucky people for centuries and it doesn't solve the societal problem, it just makes the speaker feel validated.

exabrial 6y ago

My only concern with this is the quality of food people are eating. There was a self-study performed by a research professor awhile back where he consumed nothing but Twinkie's for several months but stayed under has caloric needs, and unsurprisingly, he lost weight. However, consuming that amount of refined sugar and fat will undoubtedly lead to long term health problems. I'm not saying it's all bad :) but patients on this medicine need to make diet [and to a lesser extent exercise] changes as well. I'm sure this is already considered.

gitanovic 6y ago

I started taking some probiotics, two different kinds each day for more than one month. In particular I had one containing among others saccaromyces boulardii and one containing lactobacillus reuteri I lost around 5% of my body weight by not being so hungry any more. I think this is due to a reduction of my suspect candidosa which was making me always crave for sugar. As a plus I am also less humoral, and don't have mental fog any more. I think of the human microbioma like a patch to human biology system, while DNA is the blueprint. That said please bear in mind that I am no doctor, I have no medical or biological education... so take it for what it is, a very personal experience with also no statistical value

jl2718 6y ago
Gut microflora convert fiber to capric acid, which is a great source of steady nutrition without insulin for many hours after ingestion.

ecf 6y ago

I’m worried about the result that mass adopted drugs like these would have on society. I’d wager that it would lead to a massive increase in consumption instead of allowing people to get healthy and then stay that way.

Cartographer54 6y ago
This drug reduces appetite which would mean less consumption overall (since overweight people are eating less). If it was a drug that magically got rid of fat, it'd be a different story