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‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

nature.com

11–20 of 1001 posts

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#11

Jesus christ, why is nature quoting a psychologist in an article about biology? > However, some researchers worry that these drugs play into some societies’ obsession with being thin. Body size isn’t always a good predictor of health. “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective”

Because this isn't an article about biology, it's about health, and health isn't unidimensional

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#12

Jesus christ, why is nature quoting a psychologist in an article about biology? > However, some researchers worry that these drugs play into some societies’ obsession with being thin. Body size isn’t always a good predictor of health. “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective”

A professor I follow once said Nature isn't as prestigious as people think, they just publish such a high volume that people have gotten that impression

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#13

Jesus christ, why is nature quoting a psychologist in an article about biology? > However, some researchers worry that these drugs play into some societies’ obsession with being thin. Body size isn’t always a good predictor of health. “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective”

Because this isn't an article about biology, it's about health, and health isn't unidimensional

[flagged]

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#14

> After decades of work, researchers are finally seeing signs of success: a new generation of anti-obesity medications that drastically diminish weight without the serious side effects that have plagued previous efforts. … > Nutter is concerned that people might start these treatments — whose side effects, such as nausea and vomiting, can be severe — to escape weight stigma, rather than to serve a true health need So…

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Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#15

Jesus christ, why is nature quoting a psychologist in an article about biology? > However, some researchers worry that these drugs play into some societies’ obsession with being thin. Body size isn’t always a good predictor of health. “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective”

Because this isn't an article about biology, it's about health, and health isn't unidimensional

Helping obese people lose weight is unidimensionally a good thing

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#16
Have we actually studied if the weight loss is resulting in better health outcomes for the people in question? Outside of diabetics (there is evidence that significant weight loss can relieve the effects of type 2 diabetes), I would like to know if just weight loss benefits the cardiovascular system, blood pressure, etc. These aren't as intuitive as we'd like, for example, it turns out that low fat diets didn't make people less fat, and cholesterol-lowering medication doesn't reduce heart disease.

I'm hesitant to measure weight loss as a pure good in of itself because it isn't evident to me that just losing weight has a causative effect on reducing specific diseases.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this isn't an article about biology, it's about health, and health isn't unidimensional

Helping obese people lose weight is unidimensionally a good thing

Very little in health is unidimensional. Suppose, for example, the presence of an effective weight loss treatment caused an increase in suicide rate in those who fail to benefit from the drug or can't access it for some reason?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#18
post #8

> They described the details of an investigation of a promising anti-obesity medication in teenagers, a group that is notoriously resistant to such treatment. The results astonished researchers: a weekly injection for almost 16 months, along with some lifestyle changes, reduced body weight by at least 20% in more than one-third of the participants1. Previous studies2,3 had shown that the drug, semaglutide, was just a…

> How much of it was actually the lifestyle changes? It would be more interesting if there were no lifestyle changes...

The article answers this further down:

> Those receiving weekly injections of semaglutide lost, on average, 14.9% of their body weight after 16 months of treatment; those who received a placebo lost 2.4% on average.

Per the article still a lot of work to do in this area, but on the face of it this could be an alternative to bariatric surgery for 1/3 of people.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this isn't an article about biology, it's about health, and health isn't unidimensional

Helping obese people lose weight is unidimensionally a good thing

That'd imply it's okay to put obese folks in cages without food until they've lost weight and I'd suggest that that's fucking insane. We've discovered another dimension!

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#20
At a risk of being ignorant: Isn’t obesity a function of calories intake and calories burn rate? If so, why do we even need a drug for that? What should a possible drug target here? Assuming no changes in behaviour and thus a continued steady daily caloric surplus, would it even work?
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