Health
Meridia Can Help You Keep Off the Weight
If losing weight is difficult, then experience and research tells us that keeping it off is even harder. But there is hope for some. A report presented at the 2000 European Congress on Obesity says certain weight-loss drugs can help maintain the loss.
The drug is sibutramine, known in the United States as Meridia, is currently manufactured by Abbott Laboratories. During the first part of the two-year study into its effectiveness, 400 people were given a standard 10-milligram dose of sibutramine daily for six months. They exercised regularly and were offered intensive diet counseling. After the six months, 100 were given a fake pill and the rest continued on the drug.
Eighteen months later, the weight loss was sustained in those taking sibutramine, but the placebo-takers found their weight gradually came back -- even with the exercise and counseling.
Doctors use sibutramine to stimulate weight loss, but the drug is most often is prescribed to help control appetite. Weight loss follows naturally. Researchers say it is safer than other weight-loss drugs such the ill-fated Fen-phen, which was linked with potentially fatal heart valve damage and withdrawn from use by federal regulators.
The drug is sibutramine, known in the United States as Meridia, is currently manufactured by Abbott Laboratories. During the first part of the two-year study into its effectiveness, 400 people were given a standard 10-milligram dose of sibutramine daily for six months. They exercised regularly and were offered intensive diet counseling. After the six months, 100 were given a fake pill and the rest continued on the drug.
Eighteen months later, the weight loss was sustained in those taking sibutramine, but the placebo-takers found their weight gradually came back -- even with the exercise and counseling.
Doctors use sibutramine to stimulate weight loss, but the drug is most often is prescribed to help control appetite. Weight loss follows naturally. Researchers say it is safer than other weight-loss drugs such the ill-fated Fen-phen, which was linked with potentially fatal heart valve damage and withdrawn from use by federal regulators.
