New obesity treatment 'a success'

00:04am 25th July 2005

A potential new treatment to help obese patients "feel full" has been hailed a success by researchers.

Scientists said that a hormone found in the small intestine had given them a crucial breakthrough in developing drugs to tackle obesity.

Their latest study - published in the journal Diabetes - involved patients being given injections of oxyntomodulin - a naturally occurring digestive hormone found in the small intestine.

The injections boost the body's existing levels of oxyntomodulin, which is normally released from the small intestine as food is consumed, signalling to the brain that the body is full and has had enough to eat.

The researchers, led by Professor Steve Bloom, hoped that injections of the drug would help reduce body weight and calorific intake in those taking part in the study.

A total of 26 volunteers took part in the four-week trial, with 14 given oxyntomodulin jabs and a control group of 12 given saline injections. The self-administered injections were given three times a day, 30 minutes before each meal.

The researchers found that after four weeks, the group taking oxyntomodulin reduced their weight by an average of 2.3kg - compared to around 0.3kg in the control group. They also found that the daily energy intake in the test group reduced - by an average of 170 calories after the first injection and 250 calories at the end of the trial.

The recommended daily intake for men is around 2,500 calories, and just under 2,000 for women.

Professor Bloom, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital, said: "The discovery that oxyntomodulin can be effective in reducing weight could be an important step in tackling the rising levels of obesity in society.

"Not only is it naturally occurring, so has virtually no side effects, it could be ideal for general use as it can be self-administered. Despite this, we still need to conduct larger clinical trials to test its effectiveness over longer periods."

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