United Kingdom, November 6: A drug for you to keep extra pounds off, while you savor all delicacies may soon be a reality, for French scientists claim discovering a drug that sets the body on a weight loss mode irrespective of the diet pattern.
Resveratrol, found in red wine and known to fight weight-gain, is chemical cousin of this new found drug named SRT1720. It was found to control weight and insulin levels in mice during its trials at the University of Louis Pasteur.
According to Cell Metabolism reports, a protein named SIRT1 that fights aging is targeted by the drug.
Obesity is a growing problem in UK and government statistics show that one-third of women and one-fourth men are obese. Obesity experts from UK commented that lifestyle changes are crucial besides the obesity drug.
But it is tough to keep the excess weight away form coming back but exercising and diet alone while people do not have more choices in drugs to fight obesity after rimonabant was pulled off the shelves following safety concerns.
The team from University of Louis Pasteur, initially studied effects of resveratrol on mice and found it effective against a high-fat diet but they inferred that humans may require huge quantity of red wine to fight the accumulated fats. It was then that the team thought of concentrating on a drug much more potent than resveratrol.
When tried on mice, it was observed that the drug cuts down weight-gain within 10 weeks of treatment, while the mice were on a high-fat diet. During low metabolism phase, the drug was found to put the body on a weight loss mode.
An augment in dose cuts weight gain completely and the drug actually improved insulin sensitivity in mice, cutting down on chances of diabetes.While no side-effects were visible on the tested mice but researchers said they need an elaborate research on the drug's safety.
Professor Stephen Bloom, Obesity researcher at Imperial College London, said: "This sounds interesting but is terribly early. We do need new treatments for obesity, particularly as there are 1,000 deaths a week in the UK from obesity."
In addition Prof Ian Broom from Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology at The Robert Gordon University, said: "Research in this area is to be welcomed as an additional route of combating the obesity epidemic and associated co-morbid disease."
However, he maintained that besides any drugs, lifestyle and dietary modifications are equally instrumental in combating obesity.
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