Obesity drugs backed

Thursday February 9th, 2012

Anti-obesity drugs can make a major difference in helping assist people to lose weight when they make lifestyle changes, according to British researchers.

A study involving more than 24,000 people has found that the drugs are more effective than lifestyle changes.

Researcher Dr Laura Gray, of Leicester University, UK, says anti-obesity drugs can prove difficult for patients to take because of the side-effects.

Dr Gray reviewed a total of 94 studies, looking at the impact of drugs and lifestyle at three, six and 12 months after treatment began.

The research has been published in the journal Obesity Reviews and was backed by the UK National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.

Dr Gray said: “This is the first review to combine all available evidence for anti-obesity drugs in a single analysis.

"In clinical practice, orlistat should be considered to aid weight reduction with lifestyle interventions in those individuals who have not been successful in reducing their weight with lifestyle alone.

"The effectiveness of the withdrawn interventions – sibutramine and rimonabant – suggests that more effective drugs may be available in the future if the side effect risk can be alleviated."

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, from Leicester University, said: "Our study shows that some of the medications that we were using for weight management were beneficial, however, they have had to be withdrawn because of side effects.

"We are therefore limited in terms of drug treatment for weight reduction.

"Nevertheless, it is reassuring to note that lifestyle interventions (diet and exercise) were also effective, especially in people with diabetes at reducing weight in our study. Lifestyle interventions should therefore be promoted for weight reduction as they also have many other benefits as well.”

Obesity Reviews January 30 2012; doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2011.00981.x

Tags: Diabetes | Diet & Food | Fitness | UK News

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