Pam’s Commentary

February 19, 2006

www.pamkilleen.com

 

RE: Anti-Munchies Drug (story below my commentary)

Now BigPharma wants us to believe that a drug can ward off the munchies. The theory would be that this new drug could help people lose weight. As the article suggests, this could turn into $3 billion a year in sales….wow! Another potential boon for BigPharma!

 They are preying on people who may be desperate for solutions to their weight problems. There are real solutions available; they just can’t be found out in mainstream media. The real lie surrounds the standards for overweight, processed foods and low fat diets.  

 Perhaps some people who believe that they are overweight aren’t really overweight at all…perhaps it’s just some sort of industry standard. Maybe we are overweight compared to an individual who is suffering with a serious condition such as anorexia. Lately, I’ve seen some commercials of some people who are supposedly overweight and take this certain product and end up looking really “buff”. Before they went on the advertised product, they looked fine. These ads are unbelievable. Very sad…very manipulative.

 They’re scaring people into thinking they’re overweight. It seems to me that the standards for overweight have changed so that they can put more people into this category (thereby increasing their “market”). The weight loss industry stands to “gain” major profits from this strategy.

 What about telling people that a low fat diet is dangerous and will not help someone lose weight? What about telling people that if they have the munchies, maybe they should consider eating healthy saturated fats which would help satisfy their appetites? What about warning people that processed foods are “denature”, “inadequate”, “incomplete” foods and do not give us the nutrition we need? What about telling people to eat only whole foods like our ancestors? Why don’t they tell us these things in mainstream media? You already know why. It boggles the mind!

 I will be covering more on this subject. I just wanted to warn you about this potential new drug. If you’re looking for solutions, read Sally Fallon’s book, Eat Fat, Lose Fat to learn the truth about weight loss and be sure to read her interview in the archives.

Drug turns off the munchies, sheds pounds

Study backs anti-obesity pill awaiting FDA approval

Updated: 8:13 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11355069/

CHICAGO - An anti-obesity drug that turns off the same brain circuits which trigger the marijuana-induced munchies appears to produce sustained weight loss among patients who took it in a two-year study, researchers said Tuesday.

The report by New York’s Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons also said the drug -- Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Acomplia, or rimonabant -- needs additional study for its long-term effects and said the research was limited by a high dropout rate. The drug company funded the study.

The drug is awaiting an approval decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However there has been speculation that it could become the world’s first blockbuster anti-obesity medicine, with analysts estimating sales topping $3 billion a year.

Tuesday’s report, carried in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on a study involving more than 3,000 patients that began in 2001 and also involved diet and exercise changes. The basic findings were released at an American Heart Association meeting in late 2004.

The final study said the drug plus diet and exercise ”promoted modest but sustained reductions in weight and waist circumference and favorable changes in cardiometabolic risk factors” such as cholesterol and triglycerides.

Up to 48 percent of the patients in the study saw a weight loss of 5 percent or more after one year, depending on the dose of the drug.

In addition, the report said, the favorable changes in cholesterol and triglycerides “appeared to be approximately twice that expected from weight loss alone,” suggesting the drug may have some direct impact on fat metabolism beyond that caused by slimming down.

“It must be acknowledged that the trial was limited by a high dropout rate and that long-term effects of the drug require further study. Still, our observations collectively suggest that rimonabant may well represent an innovative approach to the management of multiple cardiometabolic risk factors, facilitating and maintaining improvements through weight-loss dependent and independent pathways,” the study concluded.

Rimonabant is the first of a new class of drugs that works by blocking cannabinoid receptors found in the brain and other body tissues which stimulate eating in general and are the culprits in hunger after marijuana use.

In an editorial commenting on the report, experts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sounded a cautionary note, saying that while the study showed promise the researchers should have done more follow-up work. They also said the study had found a higher rate of psychiatric disorders among those who received the drug compared to those who got an inert placebo.

Because obesity seems to be a societal problem, attacks against it “are needed in settings where people live, work, and play as well as in clinical practice. Drug treatments for obesity should be considered within this broader context and their current role should be limited pending further evidence,” it said.

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