Drugmakers stop studies on two diet pills

The possibility of psychiatric side effects may be to blame for the demise of two diet drugs designed for obesity treatment. French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis said it’s stopping all research on Accomplia – a diet drug sold in Europe. Just a few hours later, Pfizer Inc. announced it’s ending research on an experimental weight-loss drug in the same class.

“Given that obesity and related complications are arguably the world’s biggest public health problem, the demise of both drugs will be a big disappointment for patients and doctors, and possibly for investors. The decisions leave New York-based Pfizer, the world’s top drugmaker by sales, and Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, ranked No. 4, suddenly without drugs in a category all but guaranteed as a blockbuster.

“This will significantly affect the perception of their (future) revenues,” but the companies could overcome that with replacement drugs down the road, said analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities.

Just four years ago, scientists were touting obesity treatment drug Acomplia as a Holy Grail of medical research, saying it showed promise in helping people lose weight, control blood sugar and other aspects of diabetes, lower cholesterol, quit smoking and stop abusing alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.

Some researchers predicted that once Acomplia got approval for weight loss or smoking cessation, research would ramp up in those other areas. But that early promise didn’t materialize, it didn’t win approval for smoking cessation and problems began piling up as psychiatric side effects – now a huge red flag for regulators – emerged in various studies of Acomplia as a diet drug.

Sanofi-Aventis said in a brief statement it was stopping ongoing human testing of Acomplia, known chemically as rimonabant, for all uses, “in light of recent demands by certain national health authorities.”

Two weeks ago, Sanofi-Aventis temporarily stopped sales of Accomplia in Europe after reports that the drug’s risks – depression, anxiety and stress disorders – outweighed its benefits.

Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis are not the only pharma companies that has recently canceled the same class of obesity drugs. Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) stopped development of a similar drug candidate called Taranabant a few weeks ago. Those companies all had high hopes the drug could be used for smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol along with obesity. According to Bloomberg, only Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) is still developing a similar medicine.

Program Combining Nutrition, Exercise Shows Success In Helping Black Girls Lose Weight

An NIH-fundedprogram that combined exercise, nutrition education, field trips andother activities was more successful than a self-esteem program inhelping black girls lose weight and keep it off for two years,according to a study presented at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, the Memphis Commercial Appealreports. The program is part of a national effort by NIH to develop andtest strategies to help black girls avoid obesity and related healthproblems. Black girls are at the highest risk of becoming obese laterin life, study principal investigator Robert Klesges said.

Thestudy looked at 303 girls who were ages eight to 10 at the time thestudy began. Forty-one percent of the girls were considered overweight,though none were considered obese. Study participants over two yearsmet weekly and later monthly to focus on diet and exercise or selfesteem. At the study’s conclusion, the girls in the diet-and-exercisegroup reported eating 90 fewer calories daily and consuming fewersweetened drinks and eating slightly more vegetables than girls in theself-esteem group. Thirty percent of overweight girls in the firstgroup lost weight and were able to keep that weight off for two years,compared with 15% of girls in the second group.

According to the Commercial Appeal,there was no difference in amount of exercise reported by the girls inthe two groups. According to Klesges, neither intervention had anyeffect on girls who were of normal weight at the beginning of thestudy.

Klesges said, “We emphasized real simple strategiesthat were within the control of the girls. So, rather than choosing acola drink, we would emphasize (to the girls), why don’t you get water,or if you can’t do water, why don’t you at least get a diet cola?”Klesges said that while the program targeted black girls, it isdesigned to work within other groups or community settings.

Marian Levy, director of the University of Memphisgraduate public health program, said, “It is a very important study,”adding, “It shows just by making simple dietary changes you can have animpact on weight and health”

Women Are Advised Not To Give Up Diet Because of Summer

Fitness expert Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen, MD want women to know that the Spring and Summer times are the periods when a women’s body is actually working in concert with them to lose weight – versus in the fall and winter when the body is sending out messages to pack it on.

Women, they say, who get discouraged because they didn’t meet their goals by their start-of-Summer deadline may be selling themselves short. Summertime is the time when the body’s hormones are actively motivating their bodies to get more active, increase their metabolism and burn that excess fat. So, weight loss during this period can actually be far easier.

The authors advise the following on diet and weight loss:

Examine your goal to insure that it’s realistic. Some fitness programs promise one pound or greater of weight loss per day, which is unhealthy, unrealistic and potentially dangerous. Use the Size 2 for Life frame-adjusted formula to set a realistic goal.

Examine your diet and, in most cases, those little “demon saboteurs” will become obvious (alcohol, chips, habitual nibbling, etc). Substitute healthy activities and exercise for habitual eating, but don’t push yourself too fast or too hard. Nothing will short-circuit a weight loss program faster than an injury.

Approach each day with a positive attitude regardless of any previous setbacks or disappointments.
The authors invite women to join Ashley’s free Tips & Share program by clicking on the link at Size2forlife.com

Size 2 for Life is available at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble and retail outlets worldwide.

Price: $21.99 Pages: 222
ISBN: 978-0-9821047-4-3
Publisher: Stance Publications
Pub date: January 16, 2009

About the Authors

Ashley Marriott has been designing dance and fitness programs for more than 10 years. She is a featured spokeswoman, host and model on Exercise TV, FIT TV and numerous fitness DVDs. Ashley is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.

Marc L. Paulsen, M.D. is a graduate of Stanford University Medical School and received his training at University of California, Irvine Medical Center. He is a member of the American Academy of Sports Medicine and a former Medical Director of the Exercise Science Lab at Orange Coast College in California.

SRT1720 Red Wine Drug May Help To Lose Weight Without Effort

SRT1720 is a sirt1 activator and the new hope for a calorie restriction mimicker, which may lead to an increase in human lifespan.

Resveratrol (which I have written about several times, here, here and here) is also a sirt1 activator, which is found (in very small quantity) in red wine, is also a sirt1 activator and has been tested multiple times to see what it can do for animal%26#8217;s health and survival (see below). The interesting thing about SRT1720 is that it works at a 1,000 times lower dose than resveratrol.

A new paper examining SRT1720 was published in cell metabolism and covered at eurakalert and wired.

In mice fed a high fat diet (very similar to the resveratrol study) SRT1720 spared the animals from gaining as much weight (even though they ate the same amount) and becoming insulin resistant. Additionally, the animals fed SRT1720 had greater running endurance (no great surprise since they were not overweight). Overall, the authors providing supporting data for the mechanism behind these affects is due to increased fatty acid oxidation (which should help endurance beyond just being a lighter weight) (the same thing exercise does).

Hmmm this sounds just like the recent paper I did on human exercise. Exercise in humans leads them to become less energy efficient at rest – as there was a decoupling of food intake and energy output (occurs in the mitochondria) and hence the extra energy is burnt off as heat. That is why you can eat more if you are on an exercise program and not gain weight (compared to your twin that is not exercising). This goes beyond just the extra calories you are burning while actually exercising. Your entire muscle metabolism becomes less efficient and you need more food to get the same amount of ATP. And while this sounds bad – there are obvious benefits once your muscles have to start working.

Back to RST1720 you must remember the results reported are for mice on a high fat diet. Resveratrol when tested on mice on a high fat diet improved health and survival (meaning the mice on this diet lived longer). When resveratrol was tested for its effect on lifespan on mice fed a ‘normal’ diet there was no effect (but the diet was not started until 12 months of age – it would be interesting to see if it would work when started earlier).

Take home message about SRT 1720 and burning fat:

SRT1720 holds promise as it did prevent excessive weight gain and improved endurance, and appears to be an advance over resveratrol as it is 1,000 times more potent (hence I am guessing would be more economically viable). And combined with previous resveratrol studies is likely to increase the lifespan of animals on a high fat diet. The big question is will SRT1720 extend the lifespan of animals on a ‘normal diet’? This is the holy grail of calorie restriction mimickers. Time will tell.

Quick-burning carb diets may cause fatty liver

Diets and Carbs

Diets rich in rapidly-digested carbohydrates not only expand waistlines, but may also cause fatty liver, a condition that can lead to liver failure and death, finds a new study in mice. If confirmed in humans, the findings suggest that fatty liver disease — on the upsurge among Americans as a byproduct of the obesity epidemic — may be preventable and possibly treatable through dietary changes. The study appears in the September issue of the journal Obesity.

The researchers, led by David Ludwig, MD, PhD, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston, fed mice either a high- or a low-glycemic index diet. High-glycemic index foods, including white bread, white rice, most prepared breakfast cereals and concentrated sugar, raise blood sugar quickly. Low-glycemic index foods, like most vegetables, fruits, beans and unprocessed grains, raise blood sugar slowly.

On the high-glycemic index diet, mice ate a type of cornstarch that is digested quickly whereas on the low-glycemic index diet, mice ate a type of cornstarch that is digested slowly. The diets had equal amounts of total calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrate, and the mice were otherwise treated identically.
After six months, the mice weighed the same. However, mice on the low-glycemic index diet were lean, with normal amounts of fat in throughout their bodies. Mice on the high-glycemic index diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers.

When sugar melts out of high-glycemic index food, Ludwig explains, it drives up production of insulin, which tells the body to make and store fat. Nowhere is this message felt more strongly than in the liver, because the pancreas, which makes insulin, dumps the hormone directly into the liver, where concentrations can be many times higher than in the rest of the body. Fat buildup in the liver, or fatty liver, is usually symptomless, but it increases the risk for liver inflammation, which can progress to hepatitis and, in some cases, liver failure.

Fatty liver is becoming more common in Americans, especially in children, says Ludwig. Many cases in adults can be explained by alcoholism, but not the pediatric cases. Where just one case of fatty liver was reported in children in 1980, now between 1 in 4 and 1 in 2 overweight American children are estimated to have the condition. As these millions of children age, some will progress to full-blown liver disease. “This is a silent but dangerous epidemic,” says Ludwig. “Just as type 2 diabetes exploded into our consciousness in the 1990s, so we think fatty liver will in the coming decade.”

A previous study found that Italians who ate higher-glycemic index diets had fattier livers, but the study wasn t tightly controlled. The new study makes clear that the type of carbohydrate can cause fatty liver in animals, independent of other elements of diet or lifestyle.

“Our experiment creates a very strong argument that a high-glycemic index diet causes, and a low-glycemic index diet prevents, fatty liver in humans,” says Ludwig.

Ludwig and colleagues now hope to confirm this in a just-launched clinical trial — and to show that a low-glycemic index diet can reverse fatty liver in overweight children. The children, aged 8 to 17, will be randomized to either the low-glycemic diet or a low-fat diet.

Low-fat diets are currently the standard treatment, Ludwig says, but many children with fatty liver don’ respond to them. “We think it is a misconception that the fat you’re eating goes into the liver,” he says.

Ludwig, author of Ending the Food Fight: Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World, hypothesizes that obesity, sedentary lifestyles and increased consumption of refined carbohydrates are “synergistically” fueling a fatty liver epidemic in children. Ironically, low-fat diets have only made matters worse, replacing fat with sugar or starchy foods that actually increase fat deposition in the body.

“Two low-fat Twinkies, billed as a health food, contain the same amount of sugar as an oral glucose tolerance test — a test used to determine how much sugar someone can digest,” Ludwig says. He notes that the French delicacy pate de fois gras — the fatty liver of a duck or goose — is produced by over-feeding the animals with high-glycemic index grains.