| Doctors in Perth, Autralia will be testing a | | | | nausea and diarrhea. Were curious in the |
| brand new weight-loss pill in the hope it | | | | mechanism of how this pill functions and the |
| will not only help them lose weight but also | | | | part it could play in fat people who have |
| cut their chance of heart diseases by | | | | various risk ingredients for heart |
| increasing levels of good cholesterol or HDL. | | | | conditions, one of which is low HDL |
| The hospital trials, as part of an | | | | cholesterol, or metabolic syndrome, he said. |
| international trials, could prove the | | | | Professor Watts said the bottom line is to |
| weight-loss drug called Zimulti, developed by | | | | help people lose weight, which in turn |
| the French drugmaker Aventis, can preclude | | | | reduces their chance of other diseases such |
| the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a | | | | as diabetes. It means that people end up |
| particularly high risk form of weight gain | | | | eating less and burning more fat so its a |
| which entails problems controlling | | | | very hefty tool for targeting obesity, but |
| cholesterol, insulin and blood pressure. | | | | beyond that its also an hefty tool for |
| Gerald Watts, RPH professor of medicine, who | | | | helping smoking and even alcohol abuse, he |
| specialises in metabolic disorders, said the | | | | said. The hospital is enroling men and women |
| pill is expected to be approved in Australia | | | | between 35 and 65 who are overweight or obese |
| within a few months and the hospital aimed to | | | | with a waist circumference of more than |
| enroll 15 to 20 patients as part of the 80 | | | | 40inches in men and 88cm in women and have |
| being studied worldwide. The medications that | | | | high triglycerides with low HDL cholesterol. |
| have been available until now have had toxic | | | | They will be put on a diet to lose 5 per cent |
| consequences and some work but have no | | | | of their body weight and some will be |
| long-term safety data, so this is a new | | | | selected to continue on the Zimulti trials. |
| approach to the controlling of weight gain. | | | | In trials that have been done, the gains that |
| The pill works by blocking chemical processes | | | | have been seen in terms of increasing HDL |
| in the brain, which results in less craving | | | | cholesterol could not be excused by the loss |
| and also acts on the liver to help the body | | | | of weight alone, so it clearly has a direct |
| melt more fat, but side-effects can include | | | | consequence on the good cholesterol. |