RedWine
03-05-2008, 04:29 AM
A ‘thin pill’ that could cure obesity without surgery will be made available in 10 years’ time, according to scientists.
The study by researchers at the University College London appears in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
The team discovered two proteins, called P2Y1 and P2Y11 that cause the stomach to expand slowly after eating, to accommodate a larger meal. Theoretically a drug that blocked this expansion could discourage a person from taking an increased amount of food.
According to UCL researcher Dr Brian King who said this is a brand new way of looking at weight control, "The mechanism of slow relaxation of the stomach might represent a future drug target in the fight to control weight gain and reverse obesity.”
Currently obese people depend largely on gastric banding or stomach stapling to reduce the maximum volume of the stomach.
These surgical procedures however, have attendant risks and a new viable alternative will be useful.
World over, adult obesity rates have been steadily increasing in the last 25 years. Britain is the second nation of fat people in the world after the U.S.
With changing lifestyles 10 per cent of six-year-olds and 17 per cent of 15-year-olds are now found to be obese.
According to experts, unless urgent and serious measures are taken, an entire generation has to face serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases brought on by obesity.
Scientists in London are putting a new spin on weight loss by developing drugs that keep the belly from bulging when you eat.
The researchers' strategy is to slow down the stomach from ballooning to make room for food.
To do that, the scientists have made two experimental drugs that target protein receptors called P2Y1 and P2Y11, which are found in the stomach wall and other parts of the digestive tract, including the colon. The drugs block those receptors, slowing stomach expansion. The net result is less room in the stomach for food, which could mean eating less.
So far, the scientists have only tested their experimental drugs on colon cells -- not stomach cells -- from guinea pigs. The drugs haven't been tested for weight loss or safety in animals or people yet.
But the researchers argue that the stomach-expanding protein receptors are found in people, too.
"This would be a brand new approach to weight control," Brian King, PhD, of University College London's department of neuroscience, physiology, and pharmacology, says in a news release.
King suggests that drugs targeting P2Y1 and P2Y11 "might be a useful alternative" to gastric banding or stomach stapling in obese people seeking weight loss.
King and colleagues report their findings in The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
The study by researchers at the University College London appears in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
The team discovered two proteins, called P2Y1 and P2Y11 that cause the stomach to expand slowly after eating, to accommodate a larger meal. Theoretically a drug that blocked this expansion could discourage a person from taking an increased amount of food.
According to UCL researcher Dr Brian King who said this is a brand new way of looking at weight control, "The mechanism of slow relaxation of the stomach might represent a future drug target in the fight to control weight gain and reverse obesity.”
Currently obese people depend largely on gastric banding or stomach stapling to reduce the maximum volume of the stomach.
These surgical procedures however, have attendant risks and a new viable alternative will be useful.
World over, adult obesity rates have been steadily increasing in the last 25 years. Britain is the second nation of fat people in the world after the U.S.
With changing lifestyles 10 per cent of six-year-olds and 17 per cent of 15-year-olds are now found to be obese.
According to experts, unless urgent and serious measures are taken, an entire generation has to face serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases brought on by obesity.
Scientists in London are putting a new spin on weight loss by developing drugs that keep the belly from bulging when you eat.
The researchers' strategy is to slow down the stomach from ballooning to make room for food.
To do that, the scientists have made two experimental drugs that target protein receptors called P2Y1 and P2Y11, which are found in the stomach wall and other parts of the digestive tract, including the colon. The drugs block those receptors, slowing stomach expansion. The net result is less room in the stomach for food, which could mean eating less.
So far, the scientists have only tested their experimental drugs on colon cells -- not stomach cells -- from guinea pigs. The drugs haven't been tested for weight loss or safety in animals or people yet.
But the researchers argue that the stomach-expanding protein receptors are found in people, too.
"This would be a brand new approach to weight control," Brian King, PhD, of University College London's department of neuroscience, physiology, and pharmacology, says in a news release.
King suggests that drugs targeting P2Y1 and P2Y11 "might be a useful alternative" to gastric banding or stomach stapling in obese people seeking weight loss.
King and colleagues report their findings in The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.