Word: wurtman
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This marks a striking change in attitude. The idea of using drugs to treat excess weight was anathema 20 years ago, when M.I.T. neurologist Dr. Richard Wurtman first learned about the compound fenfluramine. At the time, the term diet pill was synonymous with amphetamines, and conjured up an image of sleazy feel-good doctors getting patients hooked on speed. Pharmaceutical companies wanted nothing to do with the weight-loss business...
...Wurtman was convinced that obesity must to some degree have a physiological basis. He had been doing research on the relationship between serotonin and appetite. Carbohydrates in the blood can help produce elevated levels of serotonin in the brain; Wurtman and his wife Judy, a nutritionist, theorized that eating high-carbohydrate food might be an unconscious attempt to elevate mood by giving the brain extra jolts of serotonin. "We reasoned," says Wurtman, "that people were using these foods as drugs." And because the best-tasting high-carbohydrate foods--ice cream, French fries, potato chips--are high in fat, the calories...
...Wurtmans were right, then a chemical that could generate a similar serotonin jolt might be highly effective for weight control. Wurtman began combing the medical literature for such a substance and discovered that the French pharmaceutical company Servier had discovered one called fenfluramine. "We tested it," he says, "and we found that it worked in selectively suppressing carbohydrate overeating...
...dream come true. Studies show that people who take dexfenfluramine shed an average of only 10% of their weight. Doctors also caution that the drug is intended for those who are 20% or more above their recommended weight range. "It's not a magic pill," stresses Dr. Richard Wurtman, a neurologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped develop dexfenfluramine. "It must be used as part of a package that includes good nutritional advice and a good exercise program...
...There is always a possibility of conflict of interest," Wurtman says. "The way I deal with it is I always tell everybody everything--more than they want to know...