Anti-Hunger Drugs

[Pangloss]

Do any of the anti-hunger drugs/treatments actually work, or are they all just smoke and mirrors?

[5614]

I've seen documentaries and articles which say they do, apparently.

 

Can't say I've ever tried one myself though.

 

Maybe someone else will be a bit more enlightening than me!

[scicop]

Sanofi-Adventis's new CB1 antagonist, SR141716A or rimonbant, has been shown to have appitite suppressing effects and has been shown to promote weightloss. The results from their randomized, multi-center placebo controlled Phase III study gave them the FDA approval earlier this year as a weight-loss drug.

[ecoli]

It's called food, duh!

[FreeThinker]

How would the body generate ATP without food?

[YT2095]

wasn`t there some issue about such a thing about 10 years ago with the use of Guar Gum or something like that, apparently it gets into the stomach and swells up to Many many times it`s original size, elliminating the hunger feeling to some extent, apparently it caused quite a few digestion problems also.

nice idea on paper.

 

Edit: cited from: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wgtloss.html

 

"Some bulk producers or fillers, such as fiber-based products, may absorb liquid and swell in the stomach, thereby reducing hunger. Some fillers, such as guar gum, can even prove harmful, causing obstructions in the intestines, stomach, or esophagus. The FDA has taken legal action against several promoters containing guar gum."

[Halucigenia]

I remember a succulent stapeliad plant having hunger supressing properties, here's an interesting link about it :-Hoodia

Of course South Americans have used the Coca leaves for the same kind of effect also. I don't know if Hoodia has any interesting other effects though.

[Drug addict]

Rimonabant: the RIO-North America trial showed that "treatment for two years promoted modest but sustained reductions in weight and waist circumference..., however there was a high drop-out weight"

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/7/761?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=RIO-North+America&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

 

No head to head studies have been done yet comparing rimonabant to orlistat or sibutramine, so the current adivce is that rimonabant is fourth line treatment.

http://www.prescriber.org.uk/?p=193

[scicop]

I don't know what it will be in the US, they so far as I know, they just have an approvable letter (not full approval). Given that its fourth-line in the UK, i'm sure it will be indicated in a similiar fashion here in the US. Depending on the price, i'm sure it will be tiered in the formularies in a similar manner as well.

[Bluenoise]

Geeze just eat more vegetables. They're so filling and so low callory that even if you ate them non-stop all day you'd probably still die of starvation!!!

Like 100 grams of mixxed veggies is 30 calories a grown man would have to eat about 80 times that a day to maintain weight! Try eating 8 kilos of veggeis a day. Seriously if you just eat low calory filling foods you can eat all day and still loose weight.

 

No need to take drugs to make youself eat less. Just change what you eat and you can eat all you want! Plus filling low calory foods tend to be packed full of nutrients.

[YT2095]

LOL, Very True!

 

actualy I heard somewhere (don`t ask where or how True it is) that eating a stick of Celery actualy Consumes more calories than the stick actualy Provides! same will low calorie or Zero calorie sodas, the trick is drink them Very cold! the body expends heat energy warming it, thus burning cals.

 

edit: I think it was the Food Program on Radio 4 where I heard it.

[Pangloss]

Seriously? I thought you were supposed to eat veggies because they were good for you. I didn't realize they were also low-calorie. You can actually fill up just as much as you would have done with beef+pasta+desert and still lose weight?

[Bluenoise]

Yeah pretty much. Mushrooms too, and those have lots of protein. You can basically eat all you want when it comes to veggies and still loose weight. All it takes is some minor skill in cooking to get them tasting really good.

 

The main sources of calories for people are things like bread/rice/pasta/potatoes and fats. None of which are very nutritious. (Though you do need some fat). Basically if you cut back on those, and eat more veggies to fill you up you'll have a hard time not loosing weight.

 

To put in in perspective

1 chocolate chip cookie or a slice of bread typically contains more callories than a full bowl of mixed vegetables!

 

And if you consider that a large bowl of veggies is more filling than maybe 20 cookies you can understand why people have trouble loosing weight. They just make really stupid choices in what they eat.

[badchad]

I'd assume you're referring to some type of novel drug/treatment. In general, however, many stimulants decrease appetite.

 

Taken to an extreme, you won't find many cocaine addicts ordering a pizza. There are some obvious health consequences to this though.

[the tree]

Do any of the anti-hunger drugs/treatments actually work, or are they all just smoke and mirrors?

Smoking certainly does cut appetite, but I wouldn't recomend it as a wieght loss technique and I certainly wouldn't recomend trying to ingest a mirror.

[gcol]

So veggies are inherently low on calorific nourishment? Now that gives a whole new meaning to junk food. Filling up with non-calory stuff should produce hypoglycaemic problems, no?

 

I often stave of hunger pangs with coffe, until I realise I am feeling a bit faint through low blood sugar, and pig out on a couple of Mars bars.

[Skye]

That's a good way to get low blood sugar. I imagine after the mars bars you feel great, then after an hour or two you start to crash again. That's the problem with simple carbohydrates. They way to avoid it is to eat complex carbs. There's lots of them in grains and roots. There's less of them in leafy vegetables, but if you eat enough you'd be ok.

[Bluenoise]

That's true. I never really thought of it before, but after I eat a meal just full of veggies I do feal a bit weak. Esspecially the next morning.

But on the other hand I wouldn't call them junk food. Like It's alot easier to get too much sugar than too less. If you eat to much you get fat. If you eat to little you feel really weak and maybe a little depressed, which makes you want to eat more...

 

But then again I don't really eat just veggies. I just add alot of extra veggies to a normal meal to make sure I'm not hungry after I'm done eating. Typically I have my source of meat, alittle bread/potatoes and a lot of veggies.

[ecoli]

My girlfriend took one of these dieting pills, or some such nonesense, despite my many protests.. I have no idea why she even took it, she's not even close to being overweight.

 

As could almost be expected, she got an allergic reaction to it. She passed out, upon waking up became dizzy and broke out in hives. I can only shake my head in distain...

 

Lord knows when she'll start listening to me.