A drug designed to fight diabetes and which would allow you to lose up to 20% of body weight might help fight obesity, according to a new study.
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According to the results of this research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tirzepatide would allow people suffering from obesity to lose up to 1/5 of their weight.
Participants in the clinical research received an injection of tirzepatide once a week for 72 weeks, combined with a healthy diet and a fitness program.
The drug works by mimicking naturally occurring hormones in the body that make people feel full following a meal.
Levels of these hormones are low in obese patients, reports the Mail Online.
For the purposes of the tirzepatide research, the researchers separated 2,500 overweight and obese participants, who did not have diabetes, into four groups.
These patients received one of three doses of tirzepatide, 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg, or a placebo.
More than half of the participants in the highest dose group lost 20% of their body weight at the end of the trial. Experts argue that most obese people need to lose between 15-20% of their weight to experience significant health benefits.
“We should treat obesity as we treat any chronic disease, with effective and safe approaches that target the underlying disease mechanisms. These results show that tirzepatide can do just that,” said lead research author Dr. Ania Jastreboff of Yale University.
“These drugs are game changers in the area of obesity, but they will only work as long as the drug is taken,” added Dr Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University.
The lost weight might therefore be regained once the drug is stopped, and if good lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise are not maintained.
SIDE EFFECTS
“This class of drug only works if participants stick to the low calorie diet prescribed with the drug, so it is not a magic bullet,” warns Professor Tom Sanders, nutrition and dietetics expert at King’s College London .
Even though this pill seems miraculous, the side effects can be unpleasant.
Up to a third of people who took tirzepatide experienced side effects such as vomiting and diarrhea.
Tirzepatide is made by the American pharmaceutical company Lilly and is said to cost $975 for four weeks.
Currently, nearly one in four adult Canadians lives daily with obesity, and regarding one in ten Canadians dies from it prematurely.
Over the past 25 years, the number of cases of obesity has doubled in Quebec and Canada. In total, 25% of Quebecers say they are struggling with obesity.
Being overweight or obese is known to increase the risk of at least 13 different types of cancer and also causes other dangerous health conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.