New drug causes 10% body weight reduction in 1 month by killing fat cells

[fromthebox]

From the BBC, this drug works by killing the blood vessels that support fat cells, thus killing those cells which are re-absorbed into the body - thoughts?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...one-month.html

[JessLess]

I thought it was interesting, but a little early to know. They haven't even done clinical trials on humans yet, so who knows what the effects and side-effects will be.

[jessica2231]

it seems unhealthy. and what are the risks?

imagine if something went wrong and your side effect was that it started killing the blood vessels in your lungs or something vital.

for me excercize and eating healthy are better. theres no risk in these only benefits. : )

[runningfromfat]

Very interesting! There's certainly a long way to go on it if they are just testing on monkeys at this stage. That being said, it's quite interesting because if you were a former obese person that you have extra fat cells vs. someone who has never been obese. I wonder if this drug (if it undergoes all the testing and is ever marketable) would be able to help with these extra fat cells... could this actually help to prevent the flabby stomach sydrome common after significant weight loss? Also, I'd love to know what those monkeys leptin levels were after weight loss.

Lots of interesting stuff there... Obviously, not really something that will help us current generation of dieters but it's still fun to think about.

[Esenin]

Hmm. I'm under the impression that when, as adults, humans gain weight, the amount of cells doesn't increase, but their size.
This pill is a bit like liposuction then, it merely removes cells rather than makes them smaller.
One major component of liposuction is that sometimes, the cells grow back.
As a scientist-type person, I'm interested.
As someone who believes that "you don't get what you don't give", this sounds lazy, and potentially very dangerous.

[runningfromfat]

Originally Posted by Esenin

Hmm. I'm under the impression that when, as adults, humans gain weight, the amount of cells doesn't increase, but their size.
This pill is a bit like liposuction then, it merely removes cells rather than makes them smaller.
One major component of liposuction is that sometimes, the cells grow back.
As a scientist-type person, I'm interested.
As someone who believes that "you don't get what you don't give", this sounds lazy, and potentially very dangerous.

http://researchmagazine.uga.edu/96ws/fundemen.html

For example, she and her graduate students have shown that fat-cell extracts either from genetically obese rats or from overfed rats caused prolific growth of the cultured fat cells. "We think when fat cells get to a point where they can't hold any more lipid, they secrete something to trigger more fat-cell development," she said.

Also...

http://www.examiner.com/metabolic-sy...bution-found-1

This research challenged the one published in the journal Nature (May, 2008) which proved that the number of fat cells in an adult body remains constant through adult life. In author’s proper words, “The accumulation of abdominal fat happens largely by individual cells expanding in size, while with fat gain in the femoral or lower body, it's the number of fat cells that increases. So, the cellular mechanisms are different - different mechanism, different impact."

So it depends on where the individual gains weight but it looks like when you gain in your stomach it tends to be because your fat cells increased whereas when you gain in your lower body you actually increased the total number of fat cells.

[Expunge]

To me that sounds like something that probably won't be good for casual dieters or 'normal' overweight people (too much risk/side-effect), but for people who are super-morbidly obese and suffering major health problems and potentially fatal complications from obesity, this could (literally) be a lifesaver, where things like surgery can't be used because the surgery will likely kill the patient. In those cases, when you're about to die anyway - it's probably worth the risk/side-effects.

It's also interesting since currently the only way to get rid of fat cells is expensive, painful liposuction (though of course that will probably remain superior for cosmetic reasons, since the surgeon can target/sculpt the areas being worked on).