Medical Breakthroughs on Obesity

WHO reported that there are already 1 billion adults who are overweight and 300, 000 of them are considered obese. The rising number of overweight and obese people has grown at an alarming rate; it has even reached worldwide epidemic proportions. Causes of obesity have been linked to over consumption of food that are high in sugar and saturated fats that are animal-based, sedentary lifestyle, and the changing eating patterns among cultures in highly urbanized cities around the world. Obesity is one of the many causes of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain type of cancer.

Today obesity has become one of the most public health concerns especially among developing countries. If this issue is not addressed to immediately, people will be at risk of fatal diseases because of obesity. Medical science the world over has continuously in search of medical breakthroughs on obesity.  This is in response to the worldwide demand to alleviate health-related risk of obesity. 

A study in Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s medical researchers has yet to be proven as one of the medical breakthroughs on obesity. According to the research that maintaining the level of fatty acids in the brain may be the cure to obesity. Moreover the study aims to alter the effects of molecular substance malonyl CoA. This molecule is believed to have been an influence on the activity of the hypothalamus, which in effect increases the appetite of a person. If the scientist can found a way to modify the content of malonyl CoA in the brain, people will no longer crave for so much food. This study is posing promise to treat obesity to children and adults alike, though it is yet to be tested on humans.

Medical scientists from Imperial College have found a way to suppress the craving for food among humans. Injecting a drug that increases the oxyntomodulin level in the stomach was being conducted among diabetic patients. This hormone, which is produced naturally by the body sends message to the brain that the stomach is full. The mechanism works as though the person is feeling full already. The other benefit of the drug is that it has no side effects since the body produces it naturally. The obese patients themselves can administer it.

Medical breakthroughs on obesity have gone as far as gene modification on human subjects. The issue on medical research ethics may impede the impetus of providing answers to obesity concerns. However, medical breakthroughs on obesity continue to surface as more and more scientists found a way to answer weight problems and health risks caused by obesity.

The key to a disease-free life is self-discipline and healthy active lifestyle. Truly, an ounce of prevention is still better than a pound of cure. If one always bears this in mind, obesity will be out of someone’s vocabulary.