The neck and neck race that we see developing here may not hold the glitz and glamour of a Kentucky Derby or Indianapolis 500 but the stakes are much higher. This race is for the coveted first to market title for the latest and greatest anti-obesity drug carrying the FDA seal of approval. And what is waiting at the finish line for those who make it? A share of the estimated $30 billion spent on weight loss each year. With only $200 million currently spent on prescription drugs, the pay off could be huge. The ride hasn’t always been smooth for the three front runners, Orexigen Therapeutics, Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the current leader, Vivus as they head into the apparent home stretch.

Hurdles that must be overcome by pharmaceutical companies in the area of weight loss include: at least a 5 percentage point difference between trial subjects that are taking the drug and a control group taking a placebo, minimizing side effects such as heart disease and psychiatric episodes and showing an improvement in co-morbidities (related diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure) to encourage insurance companies to pay for treatments.
Sanofi-Aventis SA, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. are just a few of the past hopefuls that dropped out of the race due to one or more of the above reasons. (more…)

Is your child or a child you care about struggling with weight related issues?

Don’t feel alone.  It is estimated that up to 30% of children in the United States, Canada and Australia are overweight or obese.  You’ve seen it on television, in magazines, and on the internet.  You see it every day.  Childhood obesity is the number one concern for our children today.  So what is childhood obesity and what can we do to prevent it?    

Although the definition of obesity and overweight has changed over time, obesity traditionally has been defined as a weight at least 20% above the weight corresponding to the ideal weight for individuals of a specific height, gender, and age. Twenty to forty percent over ideal weight is considered mildly obese; 40–100% over ideal weight is considered moderately obese; and 100% over ideal weight is considered severely, or morbidly, obese. More recent guidelines use a measurement called BMI (body mass index) which is the individual’s weight multiplied by 703 and then divided by twice the height in inches. BMI of 25.9–29 is considered overweight; BMI over 30 is considered obese.  Additionally, some researchers classify children as overweight if their percentage of body fat was at least 25% and 30%, respectively, for males and females. (more…)

2. Adenoviruses are a group of contagious viruses responsible for many ailments in humans.  Many of which appear as respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in children.  But can they cause childhood obesity?  Well, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, when they injected chickens with certain adenovirus strains the chickens gained excess fat compared to chickens that were not injected.

One of the leading researchers in the field of “infectobesity” is Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, who coined the phrase.  The term “infectobesity” refers to obesity of infectious origin and the emerging field of medical research that studies the relationship between disease-causing organisms, such as viruses and bacteria and weight gain.  Dr. Dhurandhar and his team have reported seven viruses that cause obesity in animal test groups. “We reported the first human virus, an adenovirus (Ad-36), which causes adiposity in chickens, rodents and non-human primates and shows association with human obesity. Our in-vivo and in-vitro data show that Ad-36 increases adiposity, lowers serum lipids, increases insulin sensitivity and preadipocyte differentiation.” (more…)

3. What do people usually think when someone says that they are overweight because of genetics? There is usually the shaking of the head and rolling of the eyes exhibited by the listener. But wait. According to scientists from three major Universities in the UK, a variant of a gene known as the Fatso gene, or more kindly referred to as the FTO gene, could be responsible for some people having a predisposition to obesity and related problems such as diabetes. The gene was first discovered in certain chubby mice, when scientist were searching for markers that signaled increased vulnerability to type 2 diabetes. The FTO gene showed up there too. The study found that people carrying one copy of the FTO gene have a 30% increased risk of being obese compared to a person with no copies. However, a person carrying two copies of the gene has a 70% increased risk of being obese. So how much actual weight could these genes be responsible for? In the UK study, the estimated average increase was only about 7 pounds for a person with two copies compared to a similar person with no copies. (more…)

4. A researcher at the University of Florida posed the question during studies concerning nerve damage caused by early childhood ear infections. Derek Snyder wondered if  repeated or severe an ear infection, which can damage a taste nerve running through the middle ear, could  cause people to tasted food less intensely than others who had not suffered the damage, thus leading to childhood obesity and obese adults.

After tabulating 6584 questionnaires, the team discovered that respondents over 35 who had suffered several ear infections had almost double the chance of being obese.

After responding to additional questions, it was found that patients who had suffered  repeated ear infections as a child were a little more likely to crave sweets and fatty foods – perhaps because the damaged nerve caused them to have a higher threshold for sensing sweetness and fattiness.

 In another study, preschoolers with a history of frequent ear infections were found to eat fewer vegetables and more sweets than children who did not have frequent ear infections. They also tended to be heavier. (more…)