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London (pte039/25.07.2005/15:27) - Over 1000 people die of obesity-related health problems every week in the UK alone. The statistics in the US are even worse: over 65% of adults are overweight.
And now scientists may have found something that could help not only regulate obesity but substantially reduce its symptoms: an injection of the hormone oxyntomodulin. The natural hormone is a peptide produced by the small intestine after a meal and signals to the stomach that it is full.
The researchers, led by Steve Bloom http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/s.bloom.html had 14 obese and overweight subjects self-administer doses of the hormone half an hour before breakfast, lunch and dinner. After four weeks individuals had lost an average of 2.3 kilograms - an average of 2.4 per cent of body weight loss - compared to those who didn't take the hormone.
"By giving the overweight subject oxyntomodulin we are fooling the brain, in a very natural way, into thinking it has just eaten a meal and is no longer hungry," said Bloom.
With the average recommended energy intake being 2500 kcal per day for men and 1940 kcal for women, the daily intake of the test group was reduced by an average of 170 kilocalories after the first injection, to 250 kcal per day at the end of four weeks.
The levels of leptin, the hormone responsible for energy expenditure in the body, were also reduced in the test subjects. A reduction in adipose hormone levels - hormones that encourage the build up of adipose tissues, where fat cells are stored - were also registered.
A company is now developing a 'patient friendly' oral version of the hormone, but it will take some time until it is available.
"The big thing is that you have had an oxyntomodulin administration from your own gut switching off your hunger after a meal every day of life," said Bloom. "This is the way you normally lose your appetite after a meal."
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