A hormone treatment could be as effective as gastric bypass surgery in achieving weight loss, British researchers have reported.
Patients lost more than 4kg on average in the first test of the proposal undertaken by Imperial College, London.
The treatment, known as GOP, was given to 15 patients for a period of four weeks. They were placed on pumps that slowly inject the treatment under the skin for 12 hours a day.
Doctors came across the treatment through studying the effects of gastric bypass surgery. This pointed to three hormones, released in the bowels and increased in levels following surgery.
The new treatment involves the hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), oxyntomodulin and peptide.
The 15 patients were compared with another 11 who received saline treatment. These achieved weight reductions of 2.5kg compared with 4.4kg for those receiving treatment.
The study suggested that patients could achieve more weight loss through bariatric surgery or through a very low calorie diet.
The findings have been published in Diabetes Care.
Researcher Professor Tricia Tan said: "Obesity and type 2 diabetes can lead to very serious and potentially life-threatening conditions such as cancer, stroke and heart disease. There is a real need to find new medicines so we can improve and save the lives of many patients.
"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. Compared to other methods the treatment is non-invasive and reduced glucose levels to near-normal levels in our patients."
Combined GLP-1, Oxyntomodulin, and Peptide YY Improves Body Weight and Glycemia in Obesity and Prediabetes/Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Single-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Study. Diabetes Care 22 July 2019
Leave a Reply