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‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

nature.com

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Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#151

Post by tptacek »

nindalf wrote: post #119
LarryMullins wrote: post #109

Why does this headline from Nature read like a scam advert from Facebook?

Because sometimes you’re dealing with the real article. This isn’t a boner pill made of rhino horn. This has been proven in double blind studies, FDA approved and has changed the lives of thousands of people. This could potentially halt the obesity epidemic, preventing many early deaths and improving the quality of life of countless others. At that point, such headlines are justified. What would you have written inst…

Too much of this thread is debating whether these drugs are a good thing or a bad thing, and not enough is on the underlying science story, which is what HN "should" be interested in. What's happening with these drugs --- that you can replicate much of the effect of bariatric surgery with an injection --- is super interesting, and didn't seem to be on the horizon 10 years ago.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#152

Post by dcolkitt »

rajin444 wrote: post #56

This drug is a net good for society, but we have to fix the root problem. Much of the food we eat is filled with addictive ingredients (sugar, excess fats/oils, etc) that provide little nutritional value but are highly addictive. We’re subsidizing companies that create unhealthy addictive food and subsidizing companies to create drugs to counter the unhealthy addictive food. This is an enormous waste of resources.

Disagree. People genuinely enjoy those foods, because they're tasty and flavorful. And there's zero reason to believe that they're substantially unhealthy unless consumed to the point of sustained caloric surplus. We know this because we have hunter-gatherer populations who consume 50% of their diets in sugar (e.g. the Hadza) or fats (e.g. Intuit), and they have none of the diseases of abundance found in modern populations because they have near zero obesity.

The problem is not the food. The problem is obesity. The food is only an issue because some people have overly strong appetites relative to the abundance of food. If we can cure obesity, then we can literally have our cake and eat it too.

Humans obviously value tasty and flavorful food, and its existence adds joy to people's lives. That's why they'll pay hundreds of dollars per meal for the best restaurants. In sum total the development of GLP-1 agonists has maybe cost $20 billion in research at most. That's literally less than 0.1% of global GDP, hardly an "enormous waste of resources".

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#153

Post by bitwize »

Why use drugs and lifestyle changes when lifestyle changes alone will do the trick? Everybody knows you're not a real Hackernews until you adopt a cold, calculating, "food is fuel" mentality toward eating, with extensive data collection, strict timing, data-driven portion control, and long fasting periods. Once you do that you don't need the drugs and can tell Big Pharma where to shove it.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#154

Post by Ekaros »

awillen wrote: post #67
iammjm wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t you ever eat sweets despite of not being hungry? I don’t think the issue is people overdosing rice or legumes because they are so hungry. The issue seems to me like quick comfort foods that we eat not to get full but because they just feel so good in our mouths. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten ice cream out of hunger:)

Yeah, I agree with all of that, but I would differentiate slightly between not being hungry and being full. I snack when I'm not necessarily hungry, but I don't snack right after I've eaten a full meal and am actively full. Anyway, semantics of hunger/fullness aside, the effect of the drug is behavioral - people taking it do end up eating significantly less, which leads to substantial weight loss.

Also it is much easier to pass those snacks and other stuff when you are full or not hungry. If this is consistent state, it can also effect how accessible at other times snacks and such are.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#155

Post by scifibestfi »

sfusato wrote: post #79

> I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects. Are you for real? Serious question.

We're seeing the most successful Big Pharma marketing campaign since OxyContin.

The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy

> From 1996 to 2001, Purdue conducted more than 40 national pain-management and speaker-training conferences at resorts in Florida, Arizona, and California. More than 5000 physicians, pharmacists, and nurses attended these all-expenses-paid symposia, where they were recruited and trained for Purdue's national speaker bureau.

> One of the cornerstones of Purdue's marketing plan was the use of sophisticated marketing data to influence physicians’ prescribing.

> Purdue “aggressively” promoted the use of opioids for use in the “non-malignant pain market.” A much larger market than that for cancer-related pain, the non–cancer-related pain market constituted 86% of the total opioid market in 1999. Purdue's promotion of OxyContin for the treatment of non–cancer-related pain contributed to a nearly tenfold increase in OxyContin prescriptions

> A consistent feature in the promotion and marketing of OxyContin was a systematic effort to minimize the risk

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#158

Post by maxlamb »

kenjackson wrote: post #133
rajin444 wrote: post #56

This drug is a net good for society, but we have to fix the root problem. Much of the food we eat is filled with addictive ingredients (sugar, excess fats/oils, etc) that provide little nutritional value but are highly addictive. We’re subsidizing companies that create unhealthy addictive food and subsidizing companies to create drugs to counter the unhealthy addictive food. This is an enormous waste of resources.

Isn't all food addictive? Is there something more specific you mean about addition when it comes to these foods? It seems like it may be more about caloric density than addiction.

You find broccoli addictive?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#159

Post by thatguy0900 »

EamonnMR wrote: post #108
rajin444 wrote: post #56

This drug is a net good for society, but we have to fix the root problem. Much of the food we eat is filled with addictive ingredients (sugar, excess fats/oils, etc) that provide little nutritional value but are highly addictive. We’re subsidizing companies that create unhealthy addictive food and subsidizing companies to create drugs to counter the unhealthy addictive food. This is an enormous waste of resources.

If we're going to treat calories as addictive and addiction as a disease rather than a personal failing it should follow that we treat the disease with a drug.

If we assume addictions as a disease then we mostly treat them with regulation. Smoking companies would have loved if we just made a pill that mitigates tar in your lungs instead of all but legislating them into obscurity.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#160

Post by mythhouse »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #86
sfusato wrote: post #79

> I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects. Are you for real? Serious question.

I mean, if you have perfect bloodwork and a marvel movie body probably not necessary but otherwise yes. Heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, colon cancer rates are rising amongst everyone, even thin people. These drugs positively impact indicators of these things in everyone. Longevity makers have been betting on metformin for a long time and these drugs are like a supercharged metformin

> if you have perfect bloodwork

I see a lot of health influencers always say whatever diet they are doing is best because nothing bad has shown up on their bloodwork.

I am not really sure if bloodwork is all it takes to asses your health.

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