Two hormones will help in the fight against obesity
Endocrinologists have proposed a new method of reducing appetite
Copper news
A team of specialists from Imperial College (London), led by Professor Stephen Bloom, presented at the annual conference of the Society of Endocrinology in Harrogate, Great Britain, a new method of appetite reduction and, accordingly, obesity therapy using endogenous satiety hormones, having conducted its clinical trials on humans for the first time.
Previous studies of the same group have shown that the combination of glucagon hormones and glucan-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which play a key role in regulating blood sugar levels and metabolic processes in the body, having an opposite effect (glucagon increases, and GLP–1 reduces the percentage of glucose in plasma), effectively acts in regarding weight loss, obesity and diabetes in a mouse model.
This time, the researchers' goal was to find out how much a combination of endogenous satiety hormones would reduce appetite in humans. The experiment involved 12 volunteers, who were divided into four groups. All participants were injected with either glucagon or GLP-1, or a combination of these hormones, or a placebo, four times with an interval of three days for 120 minutes. The compositions of the groups changed every time.
90 minutes after each procedure, participants were offered food. It was found that the combination of glucagon and GLP-1 really significantly reduces appetite – the participants who received just such an infusion consumed almost 18 percent fewer calories than the rest. At the same time, no negative side effects were noted.
According to the authors, the results obtained on a human model confirm the effectiveness of glucagon/GLP-1 combination for appetite reduction and give reason to hope that a new approach to the treatment of obesity and diabetes can be developed on their basis. Now Bloom's group plans to continue clinical studies of the combination on a wider range of participants and for a longer time in order to find out how long-term the identified effect is and whether it leads to real weight loss.
Nevertheless, in an interview with The Daily Mail (Once-a-week jab that curbs your appetite could help solve the obesity crisis), Bloom expressed confidence that a new appetite-reducing drug based on hormones produced by the body will appear on the market by 2020.
The results of the work are presented in the abstracts of the report Energy intake following infusion of glucagon and GLP-1: a double-blind crossover study and, in more detail, in ScienceDaily: Hormone Combination Shows Promise in the Treatment of Obesity and Diabetes.
True, both ScienceDaily and the Daily Mail write about a 13% reduction in calories consumed, but it seems that this is an error in calculations. You can check:
"…1086+/-110.1kcal for the control group vs. 879+/-94.2kcal for the hormone combination group…"
(1086 – 879) / 1086 x 100 = even 19%, not 18, but let's not be petty – VM.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru20.03.2013