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