Hungering for Obesity Treatments

Fueled by chips, cookies, and other high-calorie snacks, our expanding waistlines pose a hefty problem. The World Health Organization dubbed obesity a global health epidemic in 2003. As of 2015, one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese, and an additional one-third are overweight. As obesity rates soar, so do their associated health problems, which include diabetes, heart disease, and more. With an epidemic of these proportions, researchers have long sought simpler curesones that can be bottled. Early weight-loss drugs, which used molecules such as dinitrophenol and sibutramine, were introduced and later withdrawn due to their dangerous side effects. Until a few years ago, the only obesity medication approved in both the U.S. and Europe was orlistata molecule that blocks intestinal nutrient absorption but does little to abate appetite. But that’s changing. The discovery of two key hormones that control weight and appetiteleptin and ghrelinin the 1990s electrified researchers hunting for obesity medications. Although drugs targeting these molecules met with little clinical success, their discovery paved the way to a better understanding of the complex mechanisms that control our cravings and how our bodies respond to food. “A few years ago there were really no pharmaceutical treatments for obesity”, says Gregory J. Morton of the University of Washington. “Now, there’s a pipeline of certain viable treatments that act in part through the central nervous systemthat’s where a lot of the basic science is starting to reap some rewards.” In addition to looking to the central nervous system (CNS) for targets, researchers are also testing combinations of medications that reach more than just one molecular mechanism as a way to finally effectively control obesity.