Sources: weight management

Biotech, Weight Loss, Drugs

Zafgen’s Mysterious Weight Loss Drug Advances Into First Trial for Obese Women

Luke Timmerman 2/8/10

Zafgen arrived on the Boston biotech scene about 18 months ago with blue-chip venture backing, a highly regarded scientist as CEO, and an audacious idea. The Cambridge, MA-based company was developing a powerful new weight loss drug made to work unlike any other treatment in development, by cutting off the blood supply to fat tissue.

One year later, results are in. The idea was wrong.

“That was the theory,” says CEO Tom Hughes. “It doesn’t appear to be the case.”

As it turns out, though, that’s not the end of the story. Allow me to begin at the beginning.

Zafgen first emerged in public in September 2008. That’s when Hughes joined the company after a stint as global head of cardiovascular and metabolism research at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Ventures provided the initial backing. The idea was to build on research at Children’s Hospital Boston that found drugs which are made to block formation of blood vessels—a successful cancer-fighting strategy—might also help shrink fat tissue. It was a provocative finding from mouse experiments, partly because nobody had really tried it before. Many other drugs in development for obesity work on receptors in the brain, trying to coax the body to think it’s full and stop eating.

VCs listened with some interest because obesity is one of the biggest market opportunities in the pharmaceutical business now. An estimated two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of the key things Zafgen learned over the past year, based on detailed animal experiments, was that its drug didn’t work through the mechanisms it intended. The company conducted experiments on its lead candidate and found at the tiny doses it intended to use, “we have absolutely no effect on angiogenesis,” the scientific term for formation of new blood vessels.

People: Duggars Pose With Hospitalized Preemie, Say They Want More Kids

Promoting risky medical decisions is becoming a trend for People: This week, the Duggars share pictures of their 19th child, who was born premature, and declare they're open to having more kids because, “You can't let fear direct your lives.”

Though Josie Brooklyn, who was born three months premature on December 10 and weighed only 1 lb. 6 oz., is still in a neonatal intensive care unit, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar feel now is a great time to address their critics in People. “The negatives don't bother us” says Jim Bob, “Our hearts haven't changed.”

For those of you who wondered if Josie being born at just 25 weeks would change the Duggars' commitment to not using contraception, the answer is a resounding no. According to People:

[The Duggars] remain committed to their belief that “each child is a gift from God” and are open to having more. Michelle knows how their position is likely to be viewed, particularly following Josie's arrival. “When I say we would love more children, we open ourselves up for attack,” she admits.

So why make a public announcement about your family plans, especially when Josie and Michelle's health situation is still so unclear? Unlike the Heidi Montag plastic surgery cover story, People quotes several medical sources in the article. They all say more pregnancies would be harmful to the Michelle and the child, including obstetrician Dr. Jeffrey Richardson, who warns that after four children, pregnancies become much more dangerous and, “postpartum hemorrhage, dysfunctional labor, preterm labor and early miscarriage are all risks.” The article also mentions that while Michelle became pregnant with Josie six months after her last pregnancy, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends spacing out pregnancies by at least 18 months.

It's not even clear at this point if Michelle, who is 43 and was diagnosed with preeclampsia while pregnant with Josie, can have more children. Usually, the Duggars only method of birth control is following the Biblical recommendation to abstain from sex for 40 days after having a boy and 80 days after having a girl. “It is not as if we're going for another immediately. This is going to be a year of different focus for me, getting Josie through her first year of life,” says Michelle.

Of course, Michelle has a right to do whatever she wants with her body, but that doesn't make her decision to appear in People any less questionable. It's hard to say which is the stranger symbol of how our society treats pregnancy: Kourtney Kardashian's baby appearing on four tabloid covers in his first month of life, or Josie Duggar appearing on the cover of People with a tube taped to her tiny face seven weeks before her due date. The public is curious about the Duggars and the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting provides some of the money to raise all those children, but do we need to read quotes from Michelle and Jim Bob about their reproductive decisions wrapped around the photo above, of their newest baby fighting for her life? It's bad enough that tabloids are mainly focused on how fast moms lose the baby weight, but People has achieved a new low by focusing more on the novelty of a 20th Duggar that the health of the 19th.

Baby Josie Duggar's 18 Siblings Getting To Know Her Onscreen

The full article is available in the February 15, 2010 issue of People.

Earlier: Hey, Nineteen
Just Perfect: People Glamorizes Plastic Surgery Addiction
The “Baby Weight” Obsession: Officially Out Of Control

Send an email to Margaret Hartmann, the author of this post, at margaret@jezebel.com.

loss weight

Watching our weight isn't just for looks. Obesity increases our risk of health problems like joint and back pain, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, gall stones, certain cancers, fertility problems, depression and breathlessness.

How to check your weight

Most of us can tell when we've put on some weight. But it can be harder to know when it's time to lose some weight for our health's sake. Fortunately, scientists have come up with a simple way to check using a simple calculation known as the Body Mass Index (BMI). This describes your weight in relation to your height.

Keeping your weight in hand can sometimes seem like hard work. But with just a few simple diet and lifestyle changes, weight control can become easier. And you'll feel a whole lot better.

Importance of exercise

Whilst a healthy low fat diet is key to achieving a healthy body weight, exercise is also very important. Physical activity is the only way to increase energy expenditure, and exercise combined with decreased calorie intake, is the best way to decrease body fat and very importantly, maintain lean body weight over the long term.

Getting active need not mean kitting yourself out in lycra and heading for the gym. Why not start by taking regular walks, cycling if you have a bike, swimming at the local pool and using the stairs instead of a lift. If these sound dull, consider yoga, kick boxing, dancing – anything, just get moving!

See your doctor before embarking on any new exercise regime.

Top Tips for Healthy Weight Control

* Start your day with a healthy low fat breakfast, featuring Kellogg's cereals for example.
* Be realistic, be prepared for ups and downs, and think long term.
* Keep a food diary to learn more about your eating habits.
* Enjoy regular, low fat, high carbohydrate meals and snacks.
* Be active in your daily life.
* Don't go it alone – enlist support from family or friends.

Why a High Carbohydrate, Low Fat diet does the trick

Carbohydrates are all the sugars and starches in food. Scientific studies confirm that they are the body's favourite fuel, they contain less than half the calories of fat and they are naturally good at controlling our appetite. Examples of healthy carbohydrate-rich foods are breakfast cereals (like Kellogg's), breads, potatoes, rice, noodles and pasta. Base your meals and snacks on these, eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, and limit fatty foods. This is the simple route to enjoying filling and nutritious food. And it helps keep your weight in hand.

Why we genuinely feel that Kellogg's Cereals can help you and your family control your weight

* Eating breakfast doesn't make you fat. In fact research shows that breakfast cereal eaters have lower fat diets, and tend to be slimmer than those who don't eat a cereal breakfast.
* Kellogg's will ensure that every breakfast cereal we make is at least 90% fat-free. All that energy you get from carbohydrate-rich foods like Kellogg's cereals is much more readily burned off than energy from fatty foods.
* Did you know that one gram of fat has nine calories, compared to four calories per gram of carbohydrate.
* Studies highlight that filling up on a cereal-based breakfast makes mid-morning munchies much less likely.
* Kellogg's cereals are fortified with essential vitamins and iron. They help give everybody a nutritious diet, but they're very important for weight watchers. When you eat less than usual it's harder to get all the nutrients you need. This is especially true for women and teenage girls who need a lot of the mineral iron in their diet. Kellogg's cereals can also help provide the important vitamin Folic Acid, and milk on top adds bone-strengthening calcium.
* A Kellogg's breakfast is ready in no time, and a family favourite. This increases the chances of something being eaten before they rush out of the door in the morning.

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