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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

#331

Post by hbn »

oneoff786 wrote: post #261
partiallypro wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 "…

Is the woman being shown as fit? Or as someone who would like the product with a goal to become more fit?

Here's Adidas promoting a fat woman as an athlete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6keCE3ab14s

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#332

Post by 1024core »

> they also carry a hefty price tag: the injections often cost upwards of US$1,000 each month.

IMHO, it would be much easier to just stop eating processed foods and sugar (and sugar substitutes).

I cut down on sugar drastically and started intermittent fasting, losing 20 lbs in about 5 months without doing anything else.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#333

Post by MajimasEyepatch »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #291

[flagged]

This is a ridiculous comment. Statistically, there is no weight loss strategy that has been found to work long term at the population level except for bariatric surgery (and now, apparently, these drugs, but we'll see how things look in a few years). Sure, one individual person can pull it off with enough willpower and support and luck. But at a population level, we know definitively that "grind it out with exercise, nutrition, and therapy" is not an effective public health strategy.

We are biochemical machines that evolved in a food environment completely unlike the modern world, and that's before you get into possible chemical factors in the environment. If these drugs continue to prove safe—or even they just prove to be less bad than obesity and more effective than other techniques—then there's no reason to dismiss them.

Congratulations on being better than the rest of us slobs, but what works for you may not work for everyone.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#334

Post by luckylion »

glaucon wrote: post #280
luckylion wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If my summary is reasonably correct it seems to me what's needed is more understanding of the outcome before using drugs to "fix it". The likely reason is the changes in lifestyle thanks to the changes in technology. Is "let's just get rid of the past 70 years of technological advancement" something that we'll seriously consider?

| The likely reason is the changes in lifestyle Agreed, that's the commonly held reason but when one attempts to reverse what the changes seem to have been, by exercising more and eating less, that doesn't seem to work. My point is that perhaps we need to better understand what the changes have been, that perhaps they are more subtle than they are commonly held to be.

From what I understand (which is mostly second hand from a health journalist friend), "work out a bit more and eat a bit less" doesn't get you anywhere close to how people lived up until 1950. In 1920, Americans had 8million cars registered (at 106m people), today they have 276 million cars to 330m people, and that's basically the same for every aspect of life.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#335

Post by D-Coder »

imranq wrote: post #164
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.

I agree that we have incredible waste on both sides, but there is an even greater culprit: people are lacking true meaning and purpose in their lives and are indulging in these foods to distract themselves from their inner emptiness.

Reference please?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#336

Post by 1024core »

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…

Given that injections cost ~ $1000/month, you're saying basically that it'll be a great recurring revenue stream for the companies. A CFO's wet dream.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#337

Post by pixl97 »

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…

So before mass capitalism people didn't drink?

Can I ask that you read a large number of history books across any number of cultures on addictive behaviors throughout history, because you'll find that anytime a society had an excess of time and labor/production that people find addictive behaviors to enjoy. This is not recent. This is not capitalism. This is humanity.

What capitalism has done is given everybody enough free time from starvation to actually follow addictive pursuits.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#338

Post by Nick87633 »

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]

Less cognitive load... every meal -> "will the extra serving of chicken push me over my limit?" versus "it's tuesday, no food today." "it's wednesday. Dinner time."

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#339

Post by tayo42 »

Volundr wrote: post #284
Aaronstotle wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[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".

Why? How many calories do you eat in a day?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#340

Post by seneca »

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.

It's just terrible reporting, and equivocation. It being a lifestyle problem and having a natural weight can both be true. People have a natural weight, and it's difficult to drop below it. No one's natural weight is to morbidly obese.

These people are taking a medical finding and blowing it wildly out of proportion to support their agenda. It's an unfortunately common tactic.

I don't quite think it's entirely fair to blame on willpower in modern western society though. We have a food supply that is unnaturally calorie dense, and optimized for hyper strong flavor, shelf stability, and profit, and rarely for health. We're also much more sedentary.

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