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Diabetes medication may also be a promising treatment for obesity – in a new study, people taking the drug lost 15% of their body weight, which is more than what has been seen with any other obesity drug on the market.
The medicine, known as semaglutide, is an injectable medicine already approved to help control blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes. But the drug also suppresses appetite.
Related: The best way to safely lose weight
In the new study, published Wednesday (February 10) in The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers randomly assigned 1,961 obese or overweight adults to receive semaglutide or a placebo injection once a week for 68 weeks. Participants also received counseling sessions once a month to help them stick to a low-calorie diet, and they were encouraged to increase their physical activity.
At the end of the study, those who received semaglutide lost an average of 14.9% of their body weight, compared to only 2.4% of their body weight in the placebo group.
Five more drugs are approved to treat obesity, but even the most effective of these drugs results in about 7.5% weight loss, according to The New York Times. And these drugs can usually only be used for short periods of time, the Times reported. For example, phentermine, a weight loss medication, is usually taken for 3 to 6 weeks, depending on the National Institutes of Health, a much shorter duration than the 68 week treatment with semaglutide used in the study.
“This is the start of a new era of effective obesity treatments,” Dr. Robert F. Kushner, obesity researcher at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, told The Times. led the study.
People who took semaglutide were more likely to experience gastrointestinal side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation, compared to the placebo group. But these side effects tended to be temporary.
The study also did not examine the effects of the drug beyond 68 weeks, and people would likely have to stay on the drug for life to prevent their weight from returning, the Times reported.
And the weight loss drugs that appear to work well in trials may not be as effective in real settings, according to CNN. Additionally, several weight loss drugs that received Food and Drug Administration approval were subsequently recalled due to side effects, CNN reported.
The study was funded by the manufacturer of semaglutide, Novo Nordisk. The Danish pharmaceutical company has already submitted an application to the FDA for approval of semaglutide for chronic weight management, according to CNN.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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