WeightWatchers Goals to Begin Advertising Eating regimen Medicine
The corporate WeightWatchers just lately introduced it might purchase a well being firm whose suppliers prescribe medicine for weight reduction.
Nevertheless, some specialists fear about the usage of medicine for weight reduction. They argue the remedy doesn’t embrace sufficient monitoring for unwanted effects amongst sufferers.
WeightWatchers is an organization that sells services to assist individuals use train and weight-reduction plan to drop some weight. However just lately, the corporate mentioned it might buy Sequence, a telehealth firm.
The deal is valued at $132 million {dollars}. It’s the newest enterprise deal available in the market for prescription weight reduction medicine. For instance, well-known individuals have supported the usage of the diabetes drug Ozempic as a weight reduction drug. However the drug has not been permitted for that use by the Meals and Drug Administration, or FDA. Excessive demand for the drug has resulted in shortages.
WeightWatchers has 3.5 million members who pay for its companies. With Sequence, WeightWatchers can present members with extra than simply meals and train planning companies. It will probably supply treatment.
Specialists on excessive chubby, additionally known as weight problems, say the medicine will revolutionize remedy for an issue that 42 p.c of Individuals face.
What are the brand new weight-reduction plan medicine?
The medicine which are getting lots of consideration are a category of medicines known as GLP-1 agonists. Two of the preferred medicine, Ozempic and Wegovy, are totally different variations of the identical drug, semaglutide.
Ozempic has been in use for about six years to deal with sort 2 diabetes. It was permitted as a remedy for diabetes. However, as soon as a drug is permitted, it may be prescribed for different makes use of. More and more, docs are prescribing Ozempic for weight reduction.
Wegovy was permitted in 2021 to deal with weight problems in adults and kids older than 11. There are a number of comparable medicine available on the market.
Most of those medicine require weekly injections. The producer, Novo Nordisk, mentioned that provide issues have eased.
How do the medicine work?
The medicine activate the discharge of the hormone insulin and block sugar manufacturing within the physique organ known as the liver. The drugs additionally suppresses the pure want to eat.
A more recent drug known as tirzepatide, copies the motion of two hormones and is claimed to be much more efficient. Eli Lilly and Co. sells the drug beneath the title Mounjaro. It’s permitted for diabetes remedy and the FDA is contemplating it for weight problems.
How efficient are the medicine?
In medical checks, overweight adults who obtained Wegovy had a imply weight lack of about 15 p.c of their physique weight. Younger individuals who took the drug misplaced an identical quantity.
Mounjaro continues to be being examined. The Related Press experiences that totally different doses resulted in 15 to 21 p.c of physique weight being misplaced. That in comparison with three p.c for individuals who obtained no drug in any respect however thought they had been receiving one.
Dr. Louis Aronne is director of the Complete Weight Management Middle in Weill Cornell Medication based mostly in New York Metropolis. He mentioned a typical weight reduction program involving train and weight-reduction plan will lead to one third of the group shedding 5 p.c or extra of physique weight.
Aronne mentioned most individuals discover it troublesome to drop some weight due to reactions to consuming much less. A number of hormones begin to take impact in people who find themselves consuming lower than they usually do. “There’s a actual bodily phenomenon,” he mentioned, that causes the physique to withstand dropping pounds.
Medicine normally have unwanted effects, nonetheless. The commonest are issues with digestion, inflicting abdomen ache and vomiting. Different doable unwanted effects embrace tumors, most cancers and swelling of organs just like the pancreas, kidneys, gall bladder and eye issues. Individuals with a household historical past of some cancers or genetic issues with the endocrine system mustn’t take such medicine.
Dr. Amy Rothberg is a hormone specialist on the College of Michigan. She directs an internet weight management and diabetes program. She mentioned medicine might be part of an effort involving a number of weight reduction strategies.
However Rothberg mentioned it can be crucial that WeightWatchers goals to observe sufferers to ensure the medicine are taken accurately and to look at for unwanted effects.
I’m Mario Ritter Jr.
Jonel Aleccia reported this story for the Related Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. tailored it for VOA Studying English.
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Phrases in This Story
prescribe –v. (medication) to direct somebody to take a drugs or remedy that’s solely out there if a physician requests it
monitoring –v. to look at for a particular function over a time frame
hormone –n. a pure substance that’s produced within the physique and that influences development, growth or processes
imply –n. the center level between two values
dose –n. the quantity of a drugs wanted to deal with an issue or illness
phenomenon –n. one thing that occurs that may be noticed and studied
endocrine system –n. the system that sends chemical messages for a lot of processes within the physique
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