No doubt many people have dreamed of a treatment that would effortlessly melt the fat away. It’s not here yet, but a paper published this week in Science Translational Medicine describes efforts to develop just that.
Scientists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have developed a synthetic peptide that preferentially binds to the vascular endothelium lining the blood vessels in fatty tissue, and they have attached it to another peptide that triggers apoptosis, or cell death. The combination peptide, which they have dubbed “adipotide,” has the effect of inhibiting angiogenesis, or formation of blood vessels, in fatty tissue.
The scientists then studied the effects of this stuff on a group of obese rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).
Say hello to Macaca
Obesity, for the purposes of this study, was defined in terms of an elevated body mass index, or BMI. (How the Hell do you calculate the BMI of a monkey? I don’t think I want to know.) Monkeys were injected every day for 28 days either with adipotide or saline solution.
The monkeys injected with the real stuff lost weight continuously not just through the 28-day treatment period but during the 28-day recovery period as well. Monkeys receiving injections of adipotide experienced a 10.6% reduction in body mass, a 10.0% reduction in BMI, and an 8.4% reduction in abdominal circumference. Their lipid profile remained normal, and insulin resistance improved. As the monkeys burned off their stores of excess fat, the amount of food they consumed decreased. Interestingly, adipotide did not cause weight loss in monkeys that were of normal weight to begin with. Side effects included necrosis of the kidneys, which the study authors seemed to think is not a big deal.
The authors express the hope that this stuff will someday help reduce soaring obesity-related healthcare costs. Pardon me if I don’t feel like breaking out the champagne just yet.
Was it really worth annoying all these monkeys in search of a cure for a “disease” that is 100% self-inflicted? After all, fat people have a choice – the monkeys don’t.
Obligatory headless fatty photo
Does anyone think there will ever be a pill, or a shot, that will enable people to stuff their bodies with food they don’t need and not suffer any adverse effects? Is that even something we should want? Am I the only one horrified by this vision of ourselves as creatures that have no need for self-control, self-discipline, or free will? Just pump us full of the right drugs and we’ll do whatever our masters want.
Oh, and please spare me the pieties about healthcare costs. I am no great friend of the “fat rights” crowd, but blaming healthcare costs on fat people is ridiculous. I have no doubt that fat people get more than their share of overpriced and/or useless and/or dangerous medical interventions. The solution for soaring healthcare costs for fat people is the same as for everybody else: stop performing overpriced and/or useless and/or dangerous medical interventions.
I’ve made all these points before, but there’s more at stake this time around. Over 80 percent of people who get bariatric surgery are women of reproductive age. The first thing many of them do, after successfully losing weight, is to go out and get pregnant. It’s not unreasonable to suppose the same may be true of many people who would be using this stuff.
You may well ask, so what? Well, remember this stuff works by inhibiting angiogenesis. Another well-known angiogenesis inhibitor is thalidomide. I predict if this stuff ever is allowed on the market, it will be followed by the births of thousands of deformed babies. Remember, you read it here first.
All photos via Wikimedia Commons
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Richard Rider
Willett .
Lucinda Bliss
LEV JANASHVILI
TimingLogic
Patrick Frank
Salon.com
Comments
Maybe he should have said, "BECAUSE of their lack of access to modern medicines..."
Giggling (and sighing) at Snowden's comment.
Thanks to both of you for your comments.