Pharmacological Approaches in the Treatment and Maintenance of Weight Loss

Abstract

Obesity is a growing global health concern, associated with a number of important comorbid conditions. It increases the risk of diabetes and contributes to development of cardiovascular disease. While the benefits of weight loss are well established, weight reduction remains a difficult-to-reach goal in overweight and obese individuals due to several metabolic and psychological factors. For many patients, lifestyle intervention is insufficient to achieve long-term weight loss, and additional options, such as pharmacotherapy, need to be considered. Besides the challenging enterprise of weight reduction, weight maintenance remains an even more crucial and outcome-determining aspect of weight management. This article focuses on the potential of currently available pharmacological strategies to support weight loss and maintenance goals in individuals at risk. Two pharmacotherapy types are considered: those developed primarily to induce weight loss and those developed primarily for blood glucose control that have a favorable effect on body weight. Finally, the potential of very low- and low-calorie diets combined with pharmacotherapy and pharmacological combination therapies are discussed, as well as emerging approaches in development.

Psychological outcomes following surgical and endoscopic bariatric procedures: A systematic review

“…Generally, a multifactorial approach to treating obesity is most effective, which includes combining treatment approaches. Individually, lifestyle/behavioural interventions have been shown to produce short‐term reductions in weight, while newer pharmacological approaches have received increasing support for their efficacy . More recently, endoscopic bariatric procedures have also shown promising metabolic outcomes .…”

A clinical and computational study on anti-obesity effects of hydroxycitric acid

“…2 A wide variety of obesity management strategies are presently practiced including lifestyle changes in terms of diet and physical activity; behavioral treatment strategies to improve adherence to lifestyle interventions; pharmacological & herbal dietary products based strategies and bariatric surgery for treating extreme cases. [3][4][5][6][7] Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) is a well-known herbal dietary supplement used for obesity treatment. 8 It is a derivative of citric acid and is found in plant species native to south Asia like Garcinia cambogia, Garcinia indica and Garcinia atroviridis.…”

Discovering compounds mimicking calorie restriction using mammalian gene expression profiles

“…However, for a number of reasons, long-term calorie restriction is hard to sustain [2]. A valid alternative is to search for pharmacological agents that could achieve weight loss while maintaining a regular or less restricted diet [3,4]. Some advances have been made in this direction, with the development of PPARa and PPARg agonists that stimulate oxidation of fatty acids [5][6][7].…”