Acomplia – A New Miracle Drug?
Experts and researchers are purporting that Acomplia, a slimming pill now being sold in Europe, may be a new miracle drug. Not only does Acomplia have a significant impact on the weight and waist size of obese patients, but it can also reduce the craving for nicotine in smokers. One benefit that is currently being studied in detail is the effect the diet pills have on diabetic patients. There appears to be significant impact on the ability to control blood sugar levels in those diabetic patients who take these slimming pill.
How Acomplia Works
Acomplia fights fat in two ways. The most commonly discussed way is the drug’s effect on the brain. Acomplia is a cannabinoid type 1 receptor blocker. This means that the drug works in a patient’s brain to block the receptors that cause hunger, thus causing the patient to eat less.
Acomplia also works on the fat cells in the patients taking the drug. This is where the diabetic connection comes in. Fat cells in obese people do not produce enough cytokine, which is an important protein in the body. When there is not enough cytokine in the body, people are more apt to develop type 2 diabetes. Acomplia increases cytokine production in fat tissue, which reduces the risk of developing the dangerous disease.
The Fat and Blood Sugar Connection
Besides the direct effect on the fat tissue in the body, these slimming pills work to reduce diabetes first by helping the patient lose weight. Acomplia is not yet approved by the FDA for use in the United States, but many countries in Europe have doctors who are now prescribing the drug to their patients, with encouraging results. Patients who took the drug and made no lifestyle changes were able to lose an average of 19 pounds of weight in one year’s time. This weight was kept off in most cases. On top of this, 39% of the patients in the clinical weight loss trials lost over a tenth of their body weight at the end of the first year.
What is significant about these results is not only the fact that these patients did achieve weight loss, but also the areas where the weight loss occurred. Abdominal weight is a good indicator of how likely a patient is to have diabetes or heart disease. The more excess fat someone has around their abdomen, the more likely they are to die early from one of these conditions, particularly heart disease. The patients in the early studies of Acomplia lost an average of 3.5 inches around their waists. The more fat that an individual loses in the abdominal area, the less likely it will be for that person to develop type 2 diabetes.
Help for Those with Diabetes
Thus far, Acomplia has shown promise as a drug that will help prevent overweight patients from developing type 2 diabetes, but those who already have the disease may be wondering if these slimming pill can help them as well. The answer appears to be that they can. Of course, as all diabetic patients know, losing weight is one of the best ways to combat the disease. Since Acomplia helps a patient with weight loss, it can help alleviate the symptoms of diabetes.
Studies are currently underway to show how Acomplia may impact blood sugar levels. In a recent study Acomplia was given to a group of type 2 diabetes patients who were not having any other form of treatment. The study lasted for six months. These patients were tested for HbA1C, which is the hemoglobin that is an indicator of how well blood glucose levels are under control. At the end of the six months, most patients who were receiving 20 mg of Acomplia each day had lowered their HbA1C levels by 0.8%. Patients in the group who had a high baseline before the study began lowered their HbA1C levels by 1.9% on average. While these reductions may not seem like much to those who are not familiar with the science of diabetes, the truth is that every 1% reduction in HbA1C reduces the risk of death by 24% for men and 28% for women.
The patients in this study were all overweight. They did lose weight while on Acomplia, losing an average of around 14 pounds. Some researchers wondered if the diabetes results came from the weight loss alone. While weight loss does reduce the effects of diabetes, the patients who were on Acomplia actually had 57% more benefits than they would have had just from the weight loss. Also, Acomplia had a significant effect on the HDL cholesterol levels in the body, which reduces much of the risk of cardiovascular disease that many obese patients face.
These promising results may cause the FDA to take a new look at Acomplia. Diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are the main causes of premature death in America. If Acomplia can reduce the risk of all three of these, it may be approved for use in the United States. The makers of Acomplia
are currently looking at ways to present the drug to the FDA to consider as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.