Unexpected discovery! Diabetes injections may help you lose weight

Obesity is the root of all diseases! The resulting diseases include diabetes, hypertension, cancer, etc. How to lose weight has become the most concerned issue in the medical field. Currently, most weight loss drugs have some concerns about side effects. The good news is that the United States and the European Union have successively approved a new injectable weight loss drug. Its ingredients are exactly the same as existing diabetes treatment drugs, but the dosage is increased. Not only obese patients benefit from this drug, but overweight people with type 2 diabetes are also suitable for this drug.

Liraglutide, a new weight-loss drug approved for marketing in Europe and the United States, is effective in treating obesity, and obese patients in Taiwan are also expected to benefit from it in the future.

Are you overweight? Obesity is not a problem unique to Western society. Domestic research shows that 22% of adults over 45 in Taiwan are at risk of obesity, and more than half are at risk of both being overweight and obese. In China, the body mass index (BMI) is used for calculation. A BMI value over 27 (kg/m2) indicates obesity, and a BMI value over 24 indicates overweight. Europe and the United States have developed a new weight-loss drug, Liraglutide, which was approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 23, 2014, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) also officially approved it on March 23 this year.

Injectable weight loss drugs increase satiety

It is worth mentioning that although this new drug has not been approved by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), there is already an injectable diabetes drug with the same ingredients in the country - the intestinal hormone (GLP-1) accelerator (Liraglutide). Professor Carel le Roux of the Diabetes Complications Research Centre (DCRC) at University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland said that when Liraglutide is used to treat diabetes, only a dose of 0.6 to 1.8 mg is used, but when used for weight loss purposes, the dose is increased to 3 mg.

The New York Times reported that Liraglutide is the first injectable drug that can achieve weight loss goals with a single subcutaneous injection daily. The new drug is targeted at obese patients and those who are overweight due to conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The Telegraph of the United Kingdom pointed out that in addition to helping with weight loss, Liraglutide can also lower blood pressure, prevent diabetes, and increase good cholesterol.

Obese patients should focus on controlling their diet, changing their lifestyle, and exercising regularly to lose weight, and only use medication under the guidance of a doctor when necessary.

The working principle of this new drug is to affect the intestinal hormone GLP-1, sending signals to the brain, tricking the body into thinking that it is full, and the user will eat 10% less than the average person. Professor Le Roux said that this is the first time in the medical field that the body's natural signals have been used to help the brain control appetite, because the brain is the key to combating obesity.

100 yuan a day to lose 10 kg in a year

Experiments with liraglutide showed that subjects who injected the drug daily lost an average of 19 pounds (about 8.5 kilograms) in one year, which is more than 6 kilograms more than those who lost weight through diet and exercise alone; in addition, one-third of the subjects lost as much as 23 pounds (about 10.3 kilograms).

Mike Lean, professor of human nutrition at Glasgow University in the UK, said that Liraglutide is not only effective but also very safe. The only drawback is that it is too expensive. The drug costs at least 2.25 pounds (about NT$103) a day.

Wang Zhiyuan, associate professor of the Department of Internal Medicine and attending physician of the Department of Metabolic Endocrinology at National Taiwan University Hospital, also said that Liraglutide is likely to become a rising star in future weight loss drugs. However, some patients will experience gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea in the early stages of use, so it needs to be evaluated by a doctor before use. Since the product has not yet been approved for marketing by the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan, obese patients still need to control their diet, change their lifestyle and exercise. If all of these fail to improve their weight, they should use medication under the guidance of a doctor.