New injection helps weight loss in obese and diabetic patients, study finds
Here is a good news for all those people who wants to lose weight without being getting operated.
A new weight-loss injection helped overweight and diabetic patients lose an average of 10lbs (4.4kg) in just four weeks, a study has found.
Imperial College London’s previous research suggested that one of the reasons a gastric bypass worked well was because three hormones from the bowels are released in higher levels.
The hormone combination, dubbed GOP, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and improves the body’s sugar absorption.
Tricia Tan, Professor of Practice (Metabolic Medicine & Endocrinology) at Imperial College London and lead author of the study, said: “Although this is a small study, our new combination hormone treatment is promising and has shown significant improvements in patients’ health in only four weeks.
She added if further experiments are successful, then this type of treatment could be given to many more patients in future.
Researchers wanted to see if infusing patients with the GOP hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), oxyntomodulin and peptide YY, to mimic the high levels seen after surgery, could aid weight loss and reduce high glucose levels.
A total of 15 randomly obese pre-diabetic and diabetic patients were given the GOP treatment for four weeks using a pump that slowly injects the GOP mixture under the skin for 12 hours a day, beginning one hour before breakfast and disconnecting after their last meal of the day. Patients were also given advice on healthy eating and weight loss from a dietitian.
In the trial, the subjects lost an average of 10lbs (4.4kg), compared with 2.5kg (5.5lbs) for 11 participants receiving a saline placebo.
The findings from the study also showed improvements in patients’ blood glucose, with some falling to near-normal levels, a particularly significant finding for the treatment of diabetes.
Obesity is a common problem in the UK and it is estimated that one in four adults are obese, with some undergoing a procedure called a gastric bypass to keep their weight down and improve blood sugar levels in diabetics.
But the surgery can lead to complications such as abdominal pain, chronic nausea, vomiting and debilitating low blood sugar levels. The GOP treatment was reported to have had no side effects.
Researchers also recruited 21 patients who had undergone bariatric surgery and 22 patients who followed a very low-calorie diet to compare the results of the GOP trial. Those who received bariatric surgery lost 10.3kg (1st 8lbs) in weight, while those following the very low-calorie diet lost 8.3kg (1st 4lbs), the experts said.
The team behind the study, which took place in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and University College Dublin and was trialled at Hammersmith Hospital in London, hopes to carry out a larger clinical trial to assess the impact of the GOP treatment over a longer period of time.
