Article....
Pill that tricks you into losing weight
26th December 2006
An obesity pill which can help women drop two dress sizes in a year has been hailed by scientists after stunning test results.
The drug fools the body's metabolism into staying active, cutting weight by 12 per cent in under a year.
For a 12 and a half stone woman, this would mean shedding 21lb - or two dress sizes. The pill, Excalia, is said to work better and faster than existing drugs.
A course of one a day could have a dramatic effect on quality of life and cut the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Excalia will need official approval before being made available on the NHS. But a successful weight-reduction pill would be a major attraction for a health service-which spends £1billion a year on obesity-related problems.
The UK has the worst weight problem in Europe, with almost a quarter of adults classed as obese.
Existing anti-obesity pills generally cut weight by five to ten per cent when taken for a year.
But men and women taking Excalia for 48 weeks lost 12 per cent of their body weight, it was reported at a conference run by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the world's leading scientific obesity research body.
The U.S. scientists developing the pills say their beauty lies in their ability keep the pounds coming off long after most dieters would stop losing weight.
Many slimmers find that, after weeks of successfully losing weight, their metabolism slows down and they hit a plateau. With the pounds slower to come off, many lose their resolve and end up piling weight back on.
Excalia gets round this by tricking the hypothalamus - the brain's weight and appetite thermostat - into keeping the metabolism running fast.
The pill contains two drugs which are already widely used, against epilepsy and smoking, so there is a reduced danger of side-effects emerging in trials. The pills also boost levels of a hormone that stops us getting hungry.
Dr Ken Fujioka, one of the doctors running the trials, said: 'The brain is good at figuring out that the body is losing weight. If a drug affects one pathway that could be used to bring the weight back, it will switch to another pathway.
With a combination of drugs we have a better chance of hitting two pathways and getting better and more sustained weight loss.'
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26th December 2006
An obesity pill which can help women drop two dress sizes in a year has been hailed by scientists after stunning test results.
The drug fools the body's metabolism into staying active, cutting weight by 12 per cent in under a year.
For a 12 and a half stone woman, this would mean shedding 21lb - or two dress sizes. The pill, Excalia, is said to work better and faster than existing drugs.
A course of one a day could have a dramatic effect on quality of life and cut the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Excalia will need official approval before being made available on the NHS. But a successful weight-reduction pill would be a major attraction for a health service-which spends £1billion a year on obesity-related problems.
The UK has the worst weight problem in Europe, with almost a quarter of adults classed as obese.
Existing anti-obesity pills generally cut weight by five to ten per cent when taken for a year.
But men and women taking Excalia for 48 weeks lost 12 per cent of their body weight, it was reported at a conference run by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the world's leading scientific obesity research body.
The U.S. scientists developing the pills say their beauty lies in their ability keep the pounds coming off long after most dieters would stop losing weight.
Many slimmers find that, after weeks of successfully losing weight, their metabolism slows down and they hit a plateau. With the pounds slower to come off, many lose their resolve and end up piling weight back on.
Excalia gets round this by tricking the hypothalamus - the brain's weight and appetite thermostat - into keeping the metabolism running fast.
The pill contains two drugs which are already widely used, against epilepsy and smoking, so there is a reduced danger of side-effects emerging in trials. The pills also boost levels of a hormone that stops us getting hungry.
Dr Ken Fujioka, one of the doctors running the trials, said: 'The brain is good at figuring out that the body is losing weight. If a drug affects one pathway that could be used to bring the weight back, it will switch to another pathway.
With a combination of drugs we have a better chance of hitting two pathways and getting better and more sustained weight loss.'
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