Stomach Hormone Helps Conquer Battle of Bulge, Study Finds

Injections of a gut hormone that tells the brain the stomach is full resulted in significant weight loss in a small human test, British researchers report today in the journal Diabetes.

The study lasted a month and included 14 subjects who lost an average of 5 pounds, said Dr. Stephen R. Bloom, an endocrinologist at Imperial College London.

Despite the trial’s short length, the hormone -- oxyntomodulin -- is promising because it appears to lack the side effects seen in other anti-obesity drugs, he said.

The most widely used anti-obesity drug, Meridia, affects brain chemistry and produces mild side effects such as dry mouth and constipation, as well as more serious ones such as high blood pressure and an increased heart rate.

None of those side effects were observed in the oxyntomodulin test.

Bloom said the hormone would have to be tested in more patients and for longer periods. He said he wanted to find a way to avoid the need to inject the hormone three times a day.

Dr. Philip Barnett, an endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said the study showed “we’re getting much closer to elucidating how hormones affect weight.”

Oxyntomodulin is naturally produced in the human intestine and is released when the stomach becomes full.

Barnett and others speculate that the hormone plays a role in other weight-loss procedures. Bloom has found that oxyntomodulin levels in the blood are above normal in patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery.

The need for a new approach to weight loss has never been greater.

Obesity and the ills associated with it, including heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, have joined the World Health Organization’s list of the top 10 global health problems. In the United States, 64.5% of adults and 15% of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight.

Oxyntomodulin is among several hormones found to produce a feeling of fullness. Bloom reported three years ago that a hormone known as PYY3-36 produced significant weight loss in rats by reducing appetite.

Short-term human safety trials of the hormone, administered as a nasal spray, have produced a weight loss of 1.3 pounds in a week -- about the same rate as oxyntomodulin.