Weight Loss News and Research

Latest Weight Loss News and Research

A surgical cure for diabetic and obese patients

Dr. Francesco Rubino, chief of gastrointestinal metabolic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, is now enrolling overweight and mildly obese patients -- those with a body mass index (BMI) of 28 to 35 -- in a study of gastric bypass surgery aimed at reversing Type 2 diabetes.

25 Feb 2010

FDA accepts Arena Pharmaceuticals' lorcaserin NDA

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that its New Drug Application (NDA) for lorcaserin, Arena's internally discovered and developed drug candidate for weight management, including weight loss and maintenance of weight loss, has been accepted for filing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Arena submitted the lorcaserin NDA on December 22, 2009, and expects to learn the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date in the next few weeks. The PDUFA date is the target date for the FDA to complete its review of an NDA.

24 Feb 2010

Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical to advance pramlintide/metreleptin combination therapy development

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced today that the companies have selected the combination treatment of pramlintide, an analog of the natural hormone amylin, and metreleptin, an analog of the natural hormone leptin, for advancement toward Phase 3 development. The decision to advance the program followed encouraging results from a 52-week blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2 extension study. The pramlintide/metreleptin combination met the key target criteria of sustained and robust weight loss.

23 Feb 2010

Steroids and weight loss products can accelerate hair loss, says hair loss expert

In a study due to be released next month, the world's leading hair transplant and hair loss expert Dr. Larry Shapiro will show that men and women have been losing their hair from using popular weight loss and work out products that contain whey protein isolate- and it's not just their genes that are to blame.

19 Feb 2010

First lady Michelle Obama announces Let's Move! campaign against childhood obesity

First lady Michelle Obama has announced her new campaign against childhood obesity - Let's Move! And that's just what she wants children to do. And just because she knows the big man in the White House, do not expect the government to fund this initiative.

18 Feb 2010

Pediatric patients face number of cardiac conditions that can impact their health

While heart disease is traditionally associated with adults, pediatric patients face a number of cardiac conditions that can impact their health.

18 Feb 2010

Revisional bariatric surgery linked to higher risk of complications

Revisional bariatric surgery appears to be associated with a higher risk of complications than the initial procedure, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

16 Feb 2010

Simplex Healthcare to implement comprehensive wellness program for employees

Simplex Healthcare today announced that it is partnering with Onlife Health, a national personal health coaching company, to implement a comprehensive wellness program for its more than 300 employees.

15 Feb 2010

Mayo Clinic Health Letter features comprehensive coverage of the liver

The liver, the largest internal organ, is the body's ultimate multitasker. While the liver is not glamorous or sentimental -- there are no love songs about a broken liver -- it simultaneously plays a key role in the body's metabolic, digestive and regulatory systems.

12 Feb 2010

Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery performs 100th LAGB procedure

Few treatments are available to help obese adolescents who are unable to lose weight and are already suffering from obesity-related health problems. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), an option for adults in the United States since 2001, is showing promise for teens. The Center for Adolescent Bariatric Surgery, which opened at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in 2006, recently performed its 100th LAGB procedure.

12 Feb 2010

Study suggests obesity prevention efforts should begin much earlier

While many adults consider a chubby baby healthy, too many plump infants grow up to be obese teens, saddling them with Type-2 diabetes, elevated cholesterol and high blood pressure, according to an article published this month in the journal Clinical Pediatrics (published by SAGE).

11 Feb 2010

Obese adolescents who receive laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lose excess weight

A higher percentage of severely obese adolescents who received laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lost more than 50 percent of excess weight and experienced greater benefits to health and quality of life compared to those in an intensive lifestyle management program, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

10 Feb 2010

Pfizer, Keas collaborate on Keas platform to improve health and wellness of consumers

Pfizer and Keas announced today they have entered into an alliance to collaborate on the Keas platform to enable Health and Wellness experts to author, sell and distribute personalized online Care Plans directly to patients.

10 Feb 2010

Gastric banding surgery offers fewer complications, but more research needed

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery can effectively treat obesity in adolescents and seems to offer a better alternative than gastric bypass surgery, but further study is needed to determine whether it's better than nonsurgical options, a UT Southwestern Medical Center surgeon writes in an editorial in the Feb. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

9 Feb 2010

Reliv International adds new products to its portfolio

Reliv International, Inc. introduced three new products to its Relivables line at the company's national conference here today. The products represent the first extension of the Relivables line since it was introduced last August.

6 Feb 2010

Weight Watchers International settles legal dispute with Jenny Craig

Weight Watchers International, Inc., the global leader in weight-management services, today announced it has settled its legal dispute with Jenny Craig, Inc. ("Jenny Craig"). Under the terms of the settlement, Jenny Craig has permanently agreed to terminate its advertising campaign, which made false and misleading claims about the success of their program versus the Weight Watchers program.

6 Feb 2010

Pazopanib drug slows the progression of RCC in patients by 54%

The drug pazopanib (Votrient) slowed the progression of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a form of kidney cancer, in patients by 54% percent, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

5 Feb 2010

Around seven in every thousand morbidly obese people are missing part of their DNA

A small but significant proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a section of their DNA, according to research published today in Nature. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and ten other European Centres, say that missing DNA such as that identified in this research may be having a dramatic effect on some people's weight.

4 Feb 2010

New weight-loss supplement burns calories

A new weight-loss supplement tested by the University of Oklahoma Health and Exercise Science Department has the potential to burn as many calories as a 20-minute walk, according to Joel T. Cramer, assistant professor of exercise physiology.

3 Feb 2010

Bariatric physician advises consumers to stay away from shelf stable food

Many people do not realize the dangers of shelf stable foods. A shelf stable food is one normally stored in the refrigerator which has been altered so that it can be stored at room temperature for a long shelf life.

3 Feb 2010