Researchers Find Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs

Not even close.

"Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

In a study appearing in the Nov. 25 issue of Neuron, the researchers define a circuit in the brain that explains the ways fenfluramine, a component of Fen-phen, suppresses appetite.

'Our findings provide evidence that the neural circuit we've proposed is sufficient for the neurotransmitter serotonin to regulate food intake and body weight,' said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. 'Fen-phen works directly on this pathway. Unfortunately, that drug also adversely affects peripheral tissue such as the heart.'"

Two things.

First, "miracle weight-loss drugs...induc(e) life-threatening side effects" and kill.

Second, if anything, all they did was elucidate a pathway.

They did not prevent "adverse effects."

They did, however, discover wishful thinking.

"'If you could develop a drug that would travel to both the brain and the peripheral tissues, and then give a blocker to protect the heart, it's possible that you could prevent the harmful side effects and still aid weight loss. Admittedly, that's a bit farfetched, but this mouse model could be used to test that theory.'"

"Farfetched" wishful thinking, at that.

Folks, this is the kind of crap that we are all paying for one way or another.

Better to pull the plug on the research and realize that the "Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs" is to never take one.