A group of scientists confirmed the effectiveness of a drug to treat diabetes in reducing weight by 20 percent, in a discovery they said could revolutionize the field of obesity treatment.
More than 4 million people die each year due to being overweight or obese, according to the United Nations in its latest report.
Efforts to treat obesity have long focused on diet and exercise, but many people who lose weight in these ways find they regain it over time.
The new study team found that taking a weekly dose of a diabetes medication can help obese people lose up to 20 percent of their weight.
In their experiment, which was published in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, the researchers said that they conducted their study on 2,539 participants who were overweight or obese. None of them had diabetes.
The participants were divided into 4 groups, the first was given a dummy injection to lose weight once a week for 72 weeks, while the second group was given 5 mg of the drug “tirzepatide” to treat diabetes once a week, the third group took 10 mg of the drug, and the fourth group 15 mg of it.
All participants underwent regular counseling sessions on the ideal lifestyle to lose weight; To help them stick to low-calorie meals and do at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
At the end of 72 weeks, the researchers found, participants who took 5 mg of the drug per week lost an average of 16 kg, while those who took 10 mg of the drug lost an average of 22 kg, compared to 23 kg for those who were given 15 mg of the drug. Weekly.
Those who received a dummy shot lost an average of 2.4 kg by the end of the 72 weeks.
The team added that among those who received the highest dose of terzepeptide, 91 percent of the participants lost 5 percent or more of their body weight, while 57 percent of those who got the highest dose of the drug lost 20 percent. or more than their weight.
“We must treat obesity as we would treat any chronic disease – with effective and safe approaches that target the underlying disease mechanisms,” said Dr. Anya Gastrepov, a professor at Yale University, who co-authored the study. These results confirm the efficacy of (terzipatide) in this context.”
According to the study team, Terzepeptide works by mimicking hormones in the body that help people feel full after eating, which are often at low levels in obese people.
And some health experts expressed their concerns about the effect of this drug on the pancreas, which the study team confirmed that it will look into closely in the coming period.