For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

The Other Side Of Obesity

By Staff

 Obesity
Obesity, the much talked about topic, has many cures but other side of the coin is that the anti-obesity drugs fall short of providing long lasting health benefits.

The reason as stated by, Dr Halford said: "Anti-obesity drugs haven't successfully tackled the wider issues of obesity because they've been focused predominantly on weight loss. Obesity is the result of many motivational factors that have evolved to encourage us to eat, not least our susceptibility to the attractions of food and the pleasures of eating energy rich foods - factors which are, of course, all too effectively exploited by food manufacturers.

Obesity is not only a body disorder but also has psychological factors which are critical to this disease. The drug companies need to explore this darker side, to not only lessens a persons obesity but also the factors leading to this state has to be killed.

The neurochemical systems govern processes like the wanting and liking of food, and it's time to exploit that knowledge to help people manage their eating behaviour.

Professor Tim Kirkham, an authority on the biopsychology said, "Novel, effective anti-obesity treatments must address these different factors. We need to identify drugs that can selectively affect the desire to eat, the enjoyment of eating, fullness and satisfaction. Interventions designed specifically to modulate these processes could help reduce the aversive experience of dieting, and maximize an individual's capacity to successfully gain control over their appetite. Currently, we know little about the behavioural effects of anti-obesity drugs under development, and so we have little indication whether these new treatment address the underlying causes of obesity."

Story first published: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 14:30 [IST]
Read more about: weight obesity eating habits health