New way of tackling obesity

New way of tackling obesity London - Arabstoday A drug that attacks the blood supply of fat cells could offer a new way of tackling obesity – particularly pot bellies. In tests, a daily jab of the medication helped shed 40 per cent of body fat in just a month. Researchers carried out their experiments on monkeys but they are optimistic that the drug, Adipotide, will also melt human flab, and are poised to give it to patients for the first time. With Britain battling the worst weight problem in Europe and just one obesity drug still on the market, there is an urgent need for ways to deal with the fat crisis. Two prescription-only diet 'wonder drugs' that work on the brain have been banned over safety fears in recent years. But the U.S. team behind the new drug believe their formulation will be safer, as it works on the body rather than the brain. Adipotide, which is injected, homes in on the blood vessels that supply fat with blood, triggering their death, and leading to the flab melting away. Appetite is also curbed. When monkeys that had become fat by overeating and not exercising were given daily jabs of the drug, they shed 11 per cent of their weight in just four weeks. In human terms, an obesity drug is usually seen as beneficial if a person loses around 5 per cent of their weight in six months. The animals also shed 39 per cent of their overall body fat and bellies were trimmed by 27 per cent, the journal Science Translational Medicine reports. Some kidney problems were noted but researchers, from the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas, believe these can be overcome. They plan to give the drug to obese prostate cancer patients, in the hope of improving their overall health. Researcher Dr Wadih Arap said: 'Obesity is a major risk factor for developing cancer, roughly the equivalent of tobacco use. 'Obese cancer patients do worse in surgery, with radiation or chemotherapy – worse by any measure.' If further trials show Adipotide to be safe, it could be widely prescribed to the obese.