Anti-addiction drugs help weight loss in obesity trial
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Dramatic effects have been seen from a weight-loss recipe that combines anti-addiction drugs with dieting and exercise.
A group of obese patients put on the trial programme lost up to 6pc of their bodyweight over the course of a year.
The study's authors said the improvements were "clinically meaningful" and may reduce the risk of death.
However, the treatment's success was tempered by a lack of significant reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
US researchers recruited 1,742 patients aged from 18 to 65 for the 56-week trial, but only half saw it through to the end.
Participants were randomly prescribed either a combination of the drugs naltrexone and bupropion or 'dummy' placebo pills.
Naltrexone is commonly used to treat alcoholics and heroin addicts, while bupropion is better known as the anti-smoking drug Zyban. Both can affect appetite and reduce food cravings.
At the same time, the trial patients were given advice on lifestyle changes which included cutting down on calorie consumption and increasing exercise levels.
Patients had an average weight of around 100kg (15.7 stone) at the start of the study.
Obese
Their Body Mass Index -- a measurement of weight relative to height -- averaged 36, classifying them as clinically obese.
The findings were reported yesterday in an online edition of 'The Lancet' medical journal. They showed that treated participants lost between 5pc and 6pc of their bodyweight depending on which of two doses of naltrexone they were given. In comparison, patients in the placebo group lost 1.3pc.
Those on the higher naltrexone dose shed around a stone of weight on average and a fifth lost more than 10pc of their bodyweight.
The study's authors, led by Professor Frank Greenway, from the Biomedical Research Centre, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, said weight loss of 5pc to 10pc could reduce the risk of death.
However, an accompanying article highlighted the lack of significant changes to blood pressure and levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the 'bad' form of cholesterol.
- John von Radowitz in London
Irish Independent
