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PrintCan a weight loss capsule take off 20, 30, 40 pounds?
by Colleen Moriarty
Americans are learning to downsize everything — except for food portions and our bodies. Despite efforts by government and private organizations, the obesity epidemic is a runaway train. And, just as there's no magic bullet for any big health problem, there’s no magic weight loss capsule.
A few years back, promising new weight-loss research had many in the diabetes and scientific communities optimistic about pharmaceutical answers to obesity. The weight-loss drugs in the drug manufacturers’ pipelines seemed to offer the elusive weight-loss panacea. Some of these new drugs promised losses of five to 10 percent of body weight. One drug, Qnexa by Vivus, projected weight loss of up to 14.7 percent of body weight.
"If a new medication that is safe and effective is released, it would be a welcome addition to the treatment of any overweight patient but especially diabetes patients," R. Keith Campbell, RPH, FASHP, FAPHA, a professor of diabetes and pharmacotherapy at Washington State University College of Pharmacy in Pullman, WA. More than 80 percent of type 2 diabetes is related to or exacerbated by weight.
The proposed new drugs were based on formulas that combined two or more drugs. “We realize that there are many pathways that affect overeating,” says Caroline Apovian, M.D. director of the Nutrition and Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center in Boston, MA, and a spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association. “The research is indicating that we need to use combinations in order to get the weight off and keep it off,” Apovian says.
While the new combination drugs looked good in the lab, in the real world they were unable to gain the FDA’s rigorous stamp of approval. There’s still no miracle weight loss capsule. Even if there were, “It is more than just giving a patient a drug, and magically weight melts away,” says Campbell. “It takes an empowered patient who also learns to eat in a healthy manner and exercise to lose weight and keep it off.”
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