Word: loss
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...probably don't need a scientific study to tell you there's no such thing as a magic weight-loss pill. But a paper published today on BMJ.com shows exactly that: Taking federally approved anti-obesity medications, such as Xenical and Acomplia, leads only to modest weight loss - an extra 6 lbs. to 10 lbs. (2.7 kg to 4.7 kg) a year - and it's not likely to radically trim down bulging waistlines. "People have to understand it's very difficult to lose weight," says lead author Raj Padwal, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta...
...health. On that level, at least, there's little doubt anti-obesity medications can help. The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) paper, a comprehensive review of 30 controlled trials on anti-obesity drugs, showed unambiguously that orlistat (Xenical), sibutramine (Meridia) and rimonabant (Acomplia) all resulted in weight loss - but the drugs' benefits extended beyond that. In one four-year trial, orlistat reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes by almost a third; orlistat and rimonabant both cut patients' blood pressure; all three drugs lowered certain kinds of cholesterol. Not much data exists yet on the drugs' long-term effect...
...reasons are many. A course of medication can be expensive - hundreds of dollars a year. Drugs also have side effects. Orlistat prompts weight loss by limiting the body's ability to absorb fat, but that can result in oily feces and sometimes incontinence. Sibutramine can raise blood pressure and lead to nausea and insomnia. Rimonabant is associated with an increased risk of psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety. Still, Padwal says, "I think the main problem is the disappointment." For a lot of patients, the meager results of the medication don't justify their cost and unpleasantness...
...people who are very overweight or obese, Padwal says, virtually the only intervention that consistently gives impressive results is radical surgery, like gastric bypass. To curb the obesity epidemic, he says, patients need good old-fashioned commitment: They have to follow through with their weight-loss plan long-term, monitoring and adjusting it year after year. But, for now, he still prescribes anti-obesity drugs...
Here we supposedly have the last stand of the last Wild West, the place and ethos that were buried in America a century ago: a celluloid fiction, reinvented with kangaroos. Australia, largest of islands or smallest of continents, does something to compensate for that loss, or so you think. In the bush, men are men and women must be grateful. And don't Australians all feel the bush at their back, amplifying their memories, shaping their values...