site banner

Eli Lilly releases data for a new weight-loss drug to tackle obesity : Shots - Health News : NPR

npr.org

This drug is a true gamechanger

In the SURMOUNT-1 study, people who took the highest dose of tirzepatide, most of whom had a BMI of about 30 or higher but did not have diabetes, lost about 21% of their body weight during the 72 week study. As researchers point out, for people who have bariatric surgery, typical weight loss is about 25% to 30% of their weight, one or two years after the surgery. In the tirzepatide study, 36% of people taking the highest dose lost 25% or more of their body weight.

this is comparable to bariatric surgery

11
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

This is what I was afraid of. As more evidence mounts that the obesity epidemic is caused by something environmental (either a change in dietary composition or a toxin of some sort), a "cure" has arrived just before the root cause has been proven. Instead of targeting the root cause and removing whatever is causing obesity from the environment, slimness will now be sold to those who can afford it. I think even if researchers identified the cause of obesity, there would be a lot of incentive to keep the obesity train rolling, to everyone's detriment.

And obesity is just the most visible symptom of metabolic disease. Could we still be at increased risk of cancer, heart disease, etc even with these miracle drugs?

In any event, someone's paying for them. It's a huge inefficiency. We're paying somewhere for food or a toxin that makes us metabolically diseased, then paying someone else for a drug to get rid of one of the symptoms. Besides that, obesity is becoming a problem even in poorer countries, countries where the government cannot afford to pay for medication for each of their citizens.

It also worries me from a health perspective that we are treating it as an overeating problem, and solving it by making people less hungry, instead of addressing the fact that our basal metabolic rate has decreased a significant amount in the past century.

Can the decline in BEE be explained by us just being unfit skinnyfats?

They say that it has been adjusted for body composition and age. Also, look at this comparison. Female athletes in 1986 had a lower BEE than the average woman in 1919.