AN anti-obesity pill which can help slimmers lose 12% of their body weight in a year is being trialled, it emerged today.
It tricks the mind into believing the stomach is full, suppressing the appetite and helping people who have already lost weight to keep it off.
Experts believe obesity is the developed world's most pressing health problem, with around 20% of British adults "very overweight" or obese.
Treating the crisis could bankrupt the NHS in future years, forecasters have warned.
Obesity has been linked to early morbidity, cancer, diabetes and reproductive problems.
Early test results for the new drug Excalia were recently released at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity in Boston.
Overweight trialists who took the drug for six months lost 9% of their body weight, and went on to lose 12% if they took the drug for 48 weeks.
It works on the hypothalamus, which regulates weight and appetite, and tricks it into running the metabolism at a fast rate.
Weight loss
The brain is highly sophisticated at guarding against weight loss, which was useful for human evolution in times of unreliable food supply.
But in the modern world of plentiful calories, many people find saying no to food impossible.
Excalia, produced by Californian firm Orexigen, contains two drugs which affect pathways into the brain.
Its president Gary Tollefson said it worked more efficiently than first hoped.
"Excalia is designed to achieve an aggressive weight loss trajectory and then to delay the typical weight loss 'plateau' by offsetting one of the body's natural compensatory pathways," he said.
Tam Fry, a board member of the National Obesity Forum, told PA: "It's under trial in the US, and it is going to be four or five years before it comes to this country.
"If Excalia does what is says, dropping up to 12% of body size in a year, that is a huge percentage."
But he said people should remain responsible for their own health and not rely on the pharmaceutical industry.
"We would be concerned if people were just to shrug their shoulders and say 'If I get fat, I'll just take a pill."
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I am delighted to see the trialling of this new drug as someone who has struggled with excess weight for years. I have felt for some time that if my "demon" was nicotine, alcohol or indeed something worse, there are hoards of people with multiple products only too willing to help me cut down, quit or get clean. If however the problem is food, i am labelled as greedy, lazy or lacking wollpower. None of these is true, I am a pfessional person with 2 jobs and a family. I am well informed about food and nutrition but struggle with the control of my weight. I am well aware of the health risks involved with obesity and worry about them constantly.. All power to the trails ,I hope they really do turn out to be successful.
please when can we get it
Here we go again, looking for miracle cures. We donâ€<sup>TM</sup>t need them, eat less exercise regularly, that will work for 99 percent of people. Im sorry to disappoint you all, but eating a miracle pill wont give you the benefits that eating healthily and doing some exercise will, even if it does make you slimmer.