Obesity drugs -- panacea or fool's paradise

Despite years of research effort, the pharmaceutical industry has not made meaningful progress in combating obesity, arguably one of Canada's biggest and costliest health problems. The two existing obesity drugs, Meridia and Xenical have had limited success, with combined worldwide sales of under one billion dollars. Compare this with the annual sales of the statin drug, Lipitor, at 13 billion dollars.

Obesity in Canada is a growing health concern as it is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths. Canada ranks 35th on a 2008 list of fattest countries with a percentage of 61% of its citizens with an unhealthy weight.

In the last few weeks, three small American companies have completed clinical trials of the next wave of obesity drugs and will be considered for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If approved, Canada will surely follow. These new drugs are called Contrave, Iorcaserin and Qnexa. In the last wave, when fen-phen drugs hit the market in 1994, prescriptions soared to 20 million in the U.S. alone, but by 1997 deadly side effects (to the heart) surfaced and the drugs were retired by their manufacturers in the face of huge lawsuits.

Clearly, both Canadians and Americans want a quick fix for losing weight. Is this possible? Will there soon be a free lunch?
Here's my take: The human body has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years in an environment somewhat different from the one in which we live today. Up until a hundred years ago, with the exception of pharaohs and kings, humans have had no alternative but to be physically active on a daily basis, just to survive. More recently, on the whole, we have become much more sedentary, and therefore many of us have thus become overweight, or so the statistics inform us.

But here's the problem with all drugs, including past obesity drugs and future ones, too. They introduce chemical formulations into the body that are foreign to us. Did you ever wonder why all drugs have side effects? It is because our bodies are very finely tuned organisms. While that foreign substance wrapped in a pill may result in one positive effect that we seek, it will surely affect something else inside us that may be dangerous or at least disruptive to our good health.

Let's look at the situation another way. After thousands of generations of unmitigated success as a species, our bodies expect the following ingredients to remain healthy, be strong to fight off germs and live a long life: Fresh air, pure water, natural fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nuts, and cooked fish, poultry and meat. Most everything else has the opposite effect: Robbing us of our good health and destroying our immune system.

In conclusion... there is no free lunch. Next month I will discuss a recent study which has surprising and counterintuitive conclusions that support my own beliefs: The only successful formula for losing weight and regaining strength is a change in lifestyle which promotes healthy habits, including physical activities, a proper diet and a positive mental attitude.