Fat-busting medicine in tests for heart benefits
October 24th, 2007 by adminDoctors in Perth, Autralia will be testing a brand new weight-loss pill in the hope it will not only help them lose weight but also cut their chance of heart diseases by increasing levels of good cholesterol or HDL. The hospital trials, as part of an international trials, could prove the weight-loss drug called Zimulti, developed by the French drugmaker Aventis, can preclude the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a particularly high risk form of weight gain which entails problems controlling cholesterol, insulin and blood pressure. Gerald Watts, RPH professor of medicine, who specialises in metabolic disorders, said the pill is expected to be approved in Australia within a few months and the hospital aimed to enroll 15 to 20 patients as part of the 80 being studied worldwide. The medications that have been available until now have had toxic consequences and some work but have no long-term safety data, so this is a new approach to the controlling of weight gain. The pill works by blocking chemical processes in the brain, which results in less craving and also acts on the liver to help the body melt more fat, but side-effects can include nausea and diarrhea. Were curious in the mechanism of how this pill functions and the part it could play in fat people who have various risk ingredients for heart conditions, one of which is low HDL cholesterol, or metabolic syndrome, he said. Professor Watts said the bottom line is to help people lose weight, which in turn reduces their chance of other diseases such as diabetes. It means that people end up eating less and burning more fat so its a very hefty tool for targeting obesity, but beyond that its also an hefty tool for helping smoking and even alcohol abuse, he said. The hospital is enroling men and women between 35 and 65 who are overweight or obese with a waist circumference of more than 40inches in men and 88cm in women and have high triglycerides with low HDL cholesterol. They will be put on a diet to lose 5 per cent of their body weight and some will be selected to continue on the Zimulti trials. In trials that have been done, the gains that have been seen in terms of increasing HDL cholesterol could not be excused by the loss of weight alone, so it clearly has a direct consequence on the good cholesterol.
