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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

#281

Post by happyopossum »

fxtentacle wrote: post #224
viro wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it makes more logical sense to you that everyone is just weak-willed?

s/weak-willed/addicted/ There. Fixed it for you :) Yes, to me it seems like capitalism creates a society where most people get addicted just trying to cope with everyday life. For some it's alcohol, for some it's OxyContin, for some it's food, for some it's all-nighters in World of Warcraft. "59.3 million (21.4%) people over age 12 used illicit drugs in the past year." "Underage [..] 29% reported drinking alcohol" ht…

You can’t add two unrelated stats together and say it’s 50% - there’s highly likely some crossover there…

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#282

Post by JamesBarney »

smooth_remmy wrote: post #275

Petro Dobromylskyj is one of the foremost experts of fat metabolism. He has a blog called Hyperlipid where he's been blogging about fat metabolism and interpreting research for close to 10 years. He thinks the GLP-1 inhibitor drugs will be a disaster in the long term because they 1) cause weight loss but also 2) cause the body to create lots of new adipocyte (fat cells). Increasing the number of adipocytes is very un…

With every weight loss intervention when you stop you gain back the weight. GLP-1 agonists don't seem to be any different than another other intervention.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#283

Post by [deleted] »

Cupertino95014 wrote: post #222

> “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective,” says Sarah Nutter, a psychologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, who specializes in weight stigma and body image. Putting the word "stigma" on things is a sure sign of a grifter. Instead of helping solve it, they're trying to make it a social science problem. Being overweight is unheal…

[deleted]

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#284

Post by Volundr »

Aaronstotle wrote: post #265
0xB31B1B wrote: post #21

I’m currently taking one of these drugs and it has been no less than a miracle in my life. I became obese when I was around 5, topping out around a 34 BMI. When I was 20 I lost a substantial amount of weight the old fashioned way (diet and exercise), and within 8 months I was BMI 23. Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. 7 years later, I had a bad ankle injury and regained weight to about 29…

[flagged]

Maintaining a healthy weight is not that difficult FOR YOU. Many, many people struggle to control their weight. One day you might too.

I never had an issue with my weight until I had a thyroid infection around 30. I now have "normal" thyroid levels, but ever since then maintaining my weight take vigilance and lots of discipline. It's possible, but definitely "difficult".

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#285

Post by HDThoreaun »

m0llusk wrote: post #270
Cupertino95014 wrote: post #222

> “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective,” says Sarah Nutter, a psychologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, who specializes in weight stigma and body image. Putting the word "stigma" on things is a sure sign of a grifter. Instead of helping solve it, they're trying to make it a social science problem. Being overweight is unheal…

Down's Syndrome is also unhealthy. Should we stigmatize that also? The main issue is control. Many assume that weight is simple and under people's full control. Realistically, though, there are all kinds of reasons why weight gain happens and scientific measurement shows that wild animals are getting bigger too which suggests that pervasive presence of endocrine disrupting agents in the environment may be involved. I…

Weight is not uncontrollable. It's not easy to control, but neither is any other addiction, and they're certainly stigmatized.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#286

Post by luckylion »

partiallypro wrote: post #234
Cupertino95014 wrote: post #222

> “I’m really hesitant to be excited about something that I think is potentially harmful from a weight stigma perspective,” says Sarah Nutter, a psychologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, who specializes in weight stigma and body image. Putting the word "stigma" on things is a sure sign of a grifter. Instead of helping solve it, they're trying to make it a social science problem. Being overweight is unheal…

The new idea (mostly in the West) that being obese is/can be a healthy lifestyle is absolutely maddening. People being obese (and I don't mean a few pounds overweight) raises everyone's healthcare cost, because it is incredibly unhealthy and obese people tend to have more complications which requires more treatment, workers and subsidizing. It's not just an individual problem, it's a societal problem. There's a new "…

> raises everyone's healthcare cost, because it is incredibly unhealthy and obese people tend to have more complications which requires more treatment, workers and subsidizing.

Is that actually true? From what I understand, obesity will cost you dearly in life expectancy, and most of the cost comes in the last few years of normal life expectancy. Someone who dies of heart attack at 63 isn't going to run up huge bills from age 77 to 85.

I believe there was a similar calculation for smokers. The health cost in higher cancer rates are outweighed in what you save on costly treatment for the elderly + fewer pension payments.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#287

Post by smooth_remmy »

JamesBarney wrote: post #282
smooth_remmy wrote: post #275

Petro Dobromylskyj is one of the foremost experts of fat metabolism. He has a blog called Hyperlipid where he's been blogging about fat metabolism and interpreting research for close to 10 years. He thinks the GLP-1 inhibitor drugs will be a disaster in the long term because they 1) cause weight loss but also 2) cause the body to create lots of new adipocyte (fat cells). Increasing the number of adipocytes is very un…

With every weight loss intervention when you stop you gain back the weight. GLP-1 agonists don't seem to be any different than another other intervention.

The point is that you could gain back the original weight plus more. Most adults who become obese have not increased their number of fat cells - their fat cells just become larger.

The GLP-1 drugs literally increase the number of fat cells.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#288

Post by copperx »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #93
jobs_throwaway wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helping obese people lose weight is unidimensionally a good thing

Obese doesn’t mean unhealthy. Correlation isn’t causation. There are many obese people who are extremely healthy. I for one have had no health issues of any sort, have great blood panels, and am in decent physical condition but sit stubbornly at a 31BMI. The only “issue” I face is psychological, and it’s rooted in precisely this statement you made.

> There are many obese people who are extremely healthy

I don't think that's true. However, some people can withstand bad diets. As an example, I had a morbidly obese uncle that ate copious quantities of bacon, white bread, and processed food, yet his blood work and lipid levels were always in the healthy range, which always surprised my family (my mother managed a clinical lab and did the bloodwork for my uncle).

My uncle eventually passed away after he became crippled after a bathroom fall due to his weight. He became depressed and committed suicide (he was a physician and had access to morphine). Overweight is always a health risk, even if your bloodwork is ok.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#289

Post by tootie »

bioemerl wrote: post #182

> In the past, scientists and the public often thought that those with obesity simply lacked the willpower to lose weight. But evidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change. In the context where we have gone from obesity rates of 13 percent to 40, to suggest that people have a natural weight and that's the cause of this seems absurd to me.

Prior to the 20th century, it was pretty routine for average people to have inadequate access to nutrition. The rise in obesity corresponded with sweeping changed in agricultural policy that backstopped the prices of staple foods with subsidies and improved land and water management to prevent dust bowls. The result is everybody has enough food available cheaply all the time. Rolling any of that back is likely to replace obesity with malnutrition which is a much worse problem. Pandemic years notwithstanding, life expectancy has increased almost hand-in-hand with obesity rates. Obviously that's correlation, not causation.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#290

Post by happyopossum »

partiallypro wrote: post #231

I'm not obese, but am not what I'd consider at my ideal weight. I wonder how/if doctors would even prescribe this to someone like me. I think I've read some Hollywood types are using this to lose weight, but those are edge cases. I imagine for normal people this would not be easy to get prescribed.

Previous GLP-1 meds are generally not prescribed if you have below a 30 BMI
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