Diet

New Anti-Obesity Drug Qnexa Receives FDA Advisory Panel Approval

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Although I have lost my weight through the long drawn out process of diet and exercise, a drug, Qnexa, is showing some promise.

The second time’s a charm for Vivus’s experimental obesity drug Qnexa, at least when it comes to FDA advisory panel votes.

As the WSJ reports, one of the agency’s advisory panels today backed approval of the drug by a decisive 20-2 vote. The FDA — which often but not always follows the advice of its outside panels — is due to make its decision by April 17.

If the drug is approved, it would be the first new prescription weight-loss drug in over a decade. Qnexa combines low doses of two existing drugs: phentermine, which cuts appetite, and topiramate, now used to combat seizures and migraines.

Back in July 2010, FDA advisors voted against approving Qnexa by a margin of 10-6. The FDA itself nixed the drug later in the year, requesting more safety information.

Vivus submitted additional clinical data to the FDA in an attempt to allay its concerns. It’s not clear whether that will be enough to satisfy the agency, though. In briefing documents released ahead of today’s meeting, the FDA raised concerns about possible effects on the heart and about birth defects.

But it also noted that Qnexa produced “significant” weight loss in the first year of treatment, with some regain in the second year.

So, we will see if the FDA grants full approval.

This drug may provide the jump start that people need to start on the road to better health. It is probably not a panacea.

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Health

Poll Watch: Obese Americans Report Higher Rates of Daily Pain

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According to the latest Gallup Poll.

U.S. adults who are obese report higher rates of daily pain than those who are not, according to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index surveys of more than 1 million Americans. In fact, the higher an individual’s Body Mass Index (BMI) score, the more likely he or she is to report experiencing pain, with 44.1% of those with BMIs of 40 or higher saying so.

Gallup and Healthways calculate BMI scores based on respondents’ self-reports of their height and weight collected as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Respondents answered questions about pain between 2008 and 2010, including if they experienced pain yesterday and if they had pain conditions in the last year.

Sixty-three percent of the 1,010,762 people who responded to the survey were classified as overweight (38%) or obese (25%). Obese respondents were further classified into one of three obesity levels as defined by the World Health Organization.

And, the link is stronger among women and older Americans.

Additionally, as Americans age, excess weight is associated with even more pain — especially for people aged 40 and older. This finding suggests a developmental process in which individuals who have chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis or other rheumatic diseases, may reduce their physical activity levels, which in turn leads to elevated BMIs. Alternately, older, normal-weight Americans were only slightly more likely than younger Americans to report daily pain.

I am adverse to pain and am happily reducing my BMI.

Now, I weigh 228 and with my height of 5’11” will have to reach 214 pounds to shed myself of the obese category. I will then be overweight until I reduce to 185 or so.

It will probably be another year before I have reduced to a normal weight.

But, it is well worth it.

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Diet

Most Americans Fudge on Weight and Height Surveys?

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NOT surprisingly the answer is yes.

When people in the U.S. are asked to provide their weight for research surveys, they underestimate their weight and overestimate their height, despite numerous public reports about increasing rates of obesity. Whites are more likely to do so than Blacks or Hispanics, a new study finds.

Wen and her colleague, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Ph.D., found that in all ethnic groups, both men and women overestimate their height. Women also under-report their BMI more than men do, and White women are more likely to do so compared to Black and Hispanic women. The authors speculated this was because White women have a stronger social “desire for a lean body” and were more acutely aware of their weight problems. Those who were overweight, in the oldest age group and who had a college education were also more likely to under-report their BMI.

The researchers said, however, the under-reporting bias is “generally small” with the range of difference between measured and self-reported BMI falling within the 1 BMI unit range.

Wen said their results highlight the care that should be taken when making comparisons of BMI across different U.S. socio-demographic groups.

I think it is only natural to flatter yourself in these surveys or underestimate your own pathology.

Unfortuantely, using the My Fitness Pal application with my weight-loss peers, I am brutally honest. And, I have a way to go!

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Diet

Junk Food in Schools Linked to Obesity?

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Apparently not, according to a new study.

Having access to junk food at school did not cause middle schoolers to gain weight, according to a longitudinal study.

Data from a nearly 20,000-student study showed that in the 1998-1999 school year, 59.2% of fifth graders and 86.3% of eighth graders in the U.S. attended schools that sold junk food, Jennifer Van Hook, PhD, and doctoral candidate Claire Altman, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, found.

Eight years later, although there was a significant increase in the percentage of students attending schools that sold junk food, there was no corresponding rise in the percentage of students who were overweight or obese, they reported in Sociology of Education.

Junk food is certainly MORE available outside the school environment.

But, do students really eat any of the foods in the school cafeteria any more – whether healthy or not?

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Diet

The Fat Trap and Why Lost Pounds Come Back

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Here I am running up the Santa Monica Pier

Tara Parker-Pope has an interesting piece in the New York Times exploring obesity, and weight loss.

In this week’s New York Times Magazine, I explore new research that helps explain why most dieters who lose weight end up gaining it all back.

“If anything, the emerging science of weight loss teaches us that perhaps we should rethink our biases about people who are overweight. It is true that people who are overweight, including myself, get that way because they eat too many calories relative to what their bodies need. But a number of biological and genetic factors can play a role in determining exactly how much food is too much for any given individual. Clearly, weight loss is an intense struggle, one in which we are not fighting simply hunger or cravings for sweets, but our own bodies….”

Read it all and especially the comments about others’ personal stories of weight loss trials and tribulations.

There is a critic of her New York Magazine piece over at the Atlantic and I agree – albeit somewhat.

I’m not a scientist, but I have lost roughly a quarter of myself. I’ve done it at a glacial pace–almost eight years. So glacial in fact that I wouldn’t even call it a “diet.”: I’ve gained some in that time, but never yo-yoed back to the heights of my girth. The pattern has been more like lose lot, gain a some, lose some gain a little, lose a lot etc.

Obviously I wish this had happened faster and smoother. But the upshot of taking the long way is that I’ve learned a lot about how to negotiate  world where, at almost every step, cheap high calorie food is at the ready. You can’t get that understanding in a lab and you’re unlikely to get if your trying to burn of 3-4 pounds a week. That sounds like masochism.

I, now weigh 233 pounds, on my way down to 180 (I am 5-11). 9 years ago I weighed as much as 370 pounds.

Exercise, diet and accountability to myself and others (spouse and friends) have all helped.

It has been a lifestyle change.

There will be NO relapse – after all it is MY health at stake.

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