May 30, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Obesity is second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death 

LONDON, May 30, Graphic News: Fat is not just a feminist issue but a global problem that will take heavy tolls on health and countriesÕ economies as obesity reaches epidemic proportions, health experts warn.

Delegates attending the 11th European Congress on Obesity in Vienna say obesity among men, women and children is increasing at a staggering rate in most Western and some less developed countries. They say it is threatening an accompanying surge in medical and psychological problems.

Between 10-20 percent of men and 10-25 percent of women in most European countries are obese, according to figures from the International Obesity Task Force, in Britain the number of obese people has doubled since 1980.

ÒThere is a real obesity epidemic in Eastern Europe. They have 35 percent in obesity in some regions,Ó said Dr Hermann Toplak, chairman of the congress. 

The 2,000 scientists, doctors and nutritionists attending the four-day meeting in the Austrian capital are also presenting research about the role of genetics, metabolism, physiology and drugs in contributing to the problem and new therapies to treat it.

In a study of 8,800 middle-aged men, French researchers showed that walking or cycling to work can help people prevent weight gain, shed excess weight and keep fit.

ÒOur study confirmed that moderate physical activity, for example jogging, during free time is connected to lesser weight, a smaller waist size and a slower weight gain,Ó said Dr Aline Wagner of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health in Strasbourg.

A paper by German researchers showed that a fat-busting drug that blocks an enzyme in the digestive system can help obese people lose twice as much weight as a diet alone. Instead of suppressing appetite, Xenical -- which is produced by Swiss drug giant Roche -- prevents the body from absorbing one-third of fat eaten.

Dr Alfred Wirth, of the Teutoburger Wald clinic in Bad Rothenfelde, which coordinated a study of the drug on more than 15,000 overweight men and women said that after seven weeks of treatment, most of the patients lost about 11 percent of body weight or 11 kg (24 lb).

ÒXenical was safe and well tolerated in all the patients we studied,Ó Wirth said. ÒThe majority of patients lost over five to 10 percent of body weight. One in five lost 15 percent.Ó

In addition to the weight loss, Wirth said patients had an average 15 percent drop in blood sugar levels, an 18 percent decrease in blood pressure and a 14 percent fall in cholesterol.

Whereas Xenical influences the digestive system, the satiety drug Reductil, made by Abbott Laboratories and sold in the United States as Meridia, works in the brain to produce a full feeling and reduces a decline in the metabolic rate that occurs with weight loss.

A clinical trial of Reductil on 605 people reported in The Lancet medical journal late last year showed most patients achieved five percent weight loss and over half lost more than 10 percent within six months. Coupled with weight management, exercise programmes and behaviour therapy, the two treatments have been shown to reduce weight.

Obesity -- which affects more than 300 million people around the world -- is second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death and a leading risk factor in a range of other diseases.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press