BREAKING NEWS... but is it accurate?

[dianeseattle]

I just saw a news story that arrived in my box 15 hours ago. It's incredibly shocking. Based on research in the UK, there is now an injection that can result in weight loss results just as if you'd had bariatric surgery. I'll paste the entire story here & you can go do more research if you want.

New injection helps weight loss in obese and diabetic patients, study finds
The jab, which mimics the effect of gastric bypass surgery, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and helps sugar absorption.

Wednesday 7 August 2019 18:03, UK

Image: The injection is a mixture of three hormones and mimics the effect of gastric bypass surgery

A new weight-loss injection helped overweight and diabetic patients lose an average of 10lbs (4.4kg) in just four weeks, a study has found.
The jab, which is a mixture of three hormones, mimics the effect of having gastric bypass surgery.

Previous research by Imperial College London suggested that one of the reasons the bypass worked well was because it caused the bowel to release three hormones in higher levels.

The combination, dubbed GOP, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and improves the body's sugar absorption.

Lead author Tricia Tan, Professor of Practice (Metabolic Medicine & Endocrinology) at ICL and lead author of the study, said: "Although this is a small study, our new combination hormone treatment is promising and has shown significant improvements in patients' health in only four weeks.

"Compared to other methods the treatment is non-invasive and reduced glucose levels to near-normal levels in our patients.

"This result shows that it is possible to obtain some of the benefits of a gastric bypass operation without undergoing the surgery itself.

"If further trials are successful, in future we could potentially give this type of treatment to many more patients," she added.

In the study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, ICL scientists gave 15 obese pre-diabetic and diabetic patients GOP, which was slowly injected under the skin for 12 hours a day for four weeks.

They were also given advice on healthy eating and weight loss from a dietitian.

The subjects lost an average of 10lbs (4.4kg), nearly twice as much as 11 others given a salt water placebo, who shed an average of 5.5lbs (2.5kg).

Unlike gastric bypass surgery, which can cause abdominal pain, chronic nausea, vomiting and debilitating low blood sugar levels, the jab comes with no side effects.
Some of the patients' blood glucose fell to near-normal levels, a particularly significant finding for the treatment of diabetes.

Around one in four British adults is obese, with some having a gastric bypass to keep their weight down and improve blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Patients who had bariatric surgery also improved their blood glucose, but levels were much more variable, leaving them vulnerable to low blood glucose levels.
The University of Copenhagen and University College Dublin collaborated in the research, which was trialled at Hammersmith Hospital in London

 

[Brenda2010]

Very interesting! I'll be sure to follow this, thanks for sharing Diane. No matter the outcome, it's great to learn that there are still new approaches being explored.

 

[Raysofsunshine]

I wonder if these are HCG injections if so it works but its a strict program just as well I lost about a lb a day and it does work but gained the weight back and more you have to stay on the restrictred program ,I don't think insurance covers it but could be helpful to those that don't want the surgery route

 

[dianeseattle]

Breaking down the breaking news: the day after:

I took this article at face value because I still have a naive trust in journalism which I developed and idealized as a child. I became a journalist because it was the only place in society where you had to tell the truth.

But in the light of a new day I have many debunking statements related to the reporting of this fake miracle.

Let's begin here.

"The jab, which mimics the effect of gastric bypass surgery, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and helps sugar absorption."

No, it doesn't. The study, as reported, includes no data about the results as they might pertain to gastric bypass surgery. And we all know that everyone's results are different and unique. It's obvious that the writer, as well as the study coordinators, do not understand bariatric surgery, just as most of us once did not understand. It is an impossible concept to explain, though it becomes crystal clear after you benefit from it.

A weight loss of 10 lbs in a month can be attained simply by strict dieting and exercise.

And even though the term "jab" was added for color by the person who wrote the article, it was not descriptive of what actually happens with the injection.

Previous research by Imperial College London suggested that one of the reasons the bypass worked well was because it caused the bowel to release three hormones in higher levels.

The combination, dubbed GOP, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and improves the body's sugar absorption.

These terms could not be more vague. You can get the same results if you pick up swine flu.

Lead author Tricia Tan, Professor of Practice (Metabolic Medicine & Endocrinology)... said: "Although this is a small study, our new combination hormone treatment is promising and has shown significant improvements in patients' health in only four weeks.

"Compared to other methods the treatment reduced glucose levels to near-normal levels in our patients.

"...it is possible to obtain some of the benefits of a gastric bypass operation.

"...in future we could potentially give this type of treatment to many more patients," she added.

Now she is saying a) the study was brief, b) only SOME of the benefits of bypass surgery were seen, and c) a only a small body of subjects was tested.

And whereas the article claims diabetes was cured, the study differentiates, saying blood sugar reached "near-normal" levels. How near?

In the study... scientists gave 15 obese pre-diabetic and diabetic patients GOP, which was slowly injected under the skin for 12 hours a day for four weeks.

What does this sound like to you? I don't understand the comments about the injection given "under the skin." It sounds like a tuberculosis test. And the infusion from the injection went on for 12 hours? That sounds like an IV. Even dialysis doesn't take that long.

So if you're hooked up to an IV or other delivery system, when do you have time to eat or exercise or behave normally? And if some of these people are diabetic, when did they get their insulin or other treatment, since they had a needle in their arm for 12 hours?

They were also given advice on healthy eating and weight loss from a dietitian.

Duh. And when did they eat, and how did they implement the weight loss information they got?

"The subjects lost an average of 10lbs (4.4kg), nearly twice as much as 11 others given a salt water placebo, who shed an average of 5.5lbs (2.5kg)."

a) why was the study group larger than the control group? There is a 25% difference between the two.

b) the control group still would have lost 66 lbs a year, and all they got was food counseling.

c) how does this compare with research done on gastric bypass patients? There is no information cited.

d) perhaps most importantly, how was this weight loss going to be maintained? Postoperatively, patients lose weight permanently. How would you keep the weight off? Do you have to stick an IV in your arm and pump yourself full of hormones 12 hours a day for the rest of your life?

Unlike gastric bypass surgery, which can cause abdominal pain, chronic nausea, vomiting and debilitating low blood sugar levels, the jab comes with no side effects.

I think having to have an injection every single day of your life that lasts 12 hours is a pretty big side effect. Permanent abdominal pain, chronic nausea and vomiting and low blood sugar after bariatric surgery is not an expected outcome. This is an outrageous claim. If it were true, no one would pay for bariatric surgery. The whole point is to cure diabetes, not to cause new disease and misery.

Some of the patients' blood glucose fell to near-normal levels, a particularly significant finding for the treatment of diabetes.

I believe a proper dispensation of diabetic medication can also achieve this end. Nothing new here, folks.

The question of permanent weight loss must be addressed anytime a drug or treatment is being compared to gastric bypass surgery. People have gastric bypass because it is a tool by which you can attain permanent weight loss. According to all the information available, you are still on your own relating to diet and exercise if you have this injection, and you still have to suffer for 12 hours everyday as you are being infused with these hormones. If we could have accomplished permanent weight loss by dieting, gastric bypass surgery would never have existed.

I know a small percentage of people gain their weight back, but only a small percentage of those people had a sleeve, RYGB or duodenal switch surgery. Most people who have regained their weight had a lap band, which failed. Lap bands are so ineffective in the long run that they are not even covered under insurance in most places anymore. The people who had bypass and gained weight were especially afflicted by an insidious eating disorder.

In brief, this article is, at best, a gross exaggeration of the actual findings. At worst, it is a propaganda piece designed to front the study's unscientific, vague results.

If you know anything about these kinds of trials, especially human trials, a subject group has to number in the hundreds in order to represent a cross section of the population. The control group needs to be the same size as the subject group. This has been the medical standard ever since Gregor Mendel did his groundbreaking genetic work on peas.

These people are claiming that by studying 26 people for 4 weeks they have discovered the cure for diabetes and obesity. This is, flatly, BS. The more I think about it, the more fraudulent it seems.

This is an attempt by a fraud to receive grant money for phony studies to deliver a drug to market that does not do what it claims to do. Research scientists are in bed with Big Pharma, often being funded with millions of dollars for research to create snake oil a pharmaceutical company can pawn off on us.

This "Valley of the Dolls" assortment of drugs that were "tested" on housewives include Fen-Phen, Rimonbant, Aminorex, Ephedra, Meridia, dexedrine, methedrine, Valium, Librium, and a host of diet pills, antidepressants and sedatives that have been around since the 1940s, programs like Medifast, drinks like Metrecal, pulled from the market or advised against or becoming illicit street drugs. This market targets women, who have always been the most vulnerable of consumers because we are scrutinized and evaluated by our looks and behavior.

So after sleeping on it and looking at it under a microscope, I say this news is really PR crap. This is nothing to get excited about.

 

[honeysgirl]

The problem with this treatment in my humble opinion is that I am sure it does work.
If you have ever taken Victoza or Byetta or any of those similar injection medications they do work. I lost 30lbs when I started taking them. If I over ate then I got very nauseous. Over time though you just get used to it or ignore the full signal feeling.
A strong, disciplined person could probably keep it under control but I could not.
I hope that it will work for some people because not everyone wants to go a surgical route and I certainly understand that.