The Obesity Epidemic and Solutions from a Pharmacology Weight Loss Expert
Increased adipose tissue adds to the risk of death and metabolic disease such as T2D, increased blood pressure, cholesterol levels, atherosclerotic disease, osteoarthritis, apnea, and certain kinds of cancer.
The relationship between increased adipose tissue and morbidity/mortality varies by the positioning of the adipose tissue but has been shown to increase in a curvilinear matter when the body mass index (BMI) is 25 kg/m2 to approximately 40 kg/m2.
Clinical Studies show that modest degrees of intentional weight loss in overweight and obese individuals can reduce the incidence of some kinds of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality.
In clinical practice, waist circumference is used as an indirect measure of visceral fat content, which when increased is associated with an elevated risk for metabolic abnormalities such as dyslipidemia and diabetes.
Weight loss experts have stated that weight loss drugs should include statistically significant changes in patient metabolic parameters, (listed below) and include measurement of visceral fat content by CT or MRI.
Effective weight-loss therapies should produce changes in the following metabolic parameters:
- Fasting glucose and insulin
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol and triglyceride levels
- HbA1c (in type 2 diabetics)
An increased level of visceral or intra-abdominal, sub-muscular adiposity increases the risk for metabolic morbidity/mortality and cholesterol independent of BMI.
This may be assessed CT or MRI. Simply measuring waist circumference measured at the umbilicus, does not always correlate with evaluating visceral fat (as in the case if the fat happens to be subcutaneous).
A waist circumference greater than 40 inches in men and greater than 35 inches in women is typically indicative excessive adiposity, whether it is subcutaneous or visceral.
Lifestyle changes including changes in caloric intake, exercise, and other behaviors, are considered the fundamentals of obesity therapy.
Obesity experts agree that drug treatments independently include risks for adverse events in patients that are already unwell from being obese.
Therefore, the use of a weight-management drug should be contemplated only after approximately six months of lifestyle modification has not produced significant weight loss and the risks of excess adiposity and the anticipated benefits of weight loss are expected to outweigh the known and unknown risks of treatment with a particular weight-management product.
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