Antibiotics and Autism Age of Autism, Trumbull - Nov 30, 2008 The scientists were able to identify roughly 3300 to 5700 different types of bacteria in the human gut and found that the antibiotic treatment affected ...
Fat Cell Gene May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk Voice of America - Nov 10, 2008 The new, experimental vaccine contains a weakened TB bacterium from a strain of the current vaccine. The scientists say their study showed that the ...
Tackling emotional health 'key to solving obesity crisis' Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - Nov 11, 2008 Scientists have come up with anti-obesity pills ? which stop fat being digested, so it passes right through the system ? and there is talk of an obesity...
Blood clots: The disease that links everyone Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - Nov 24, 2008 But Prof Kakkar is adamant that the TRI is interested in sharing its ideas with other scientists. Yet a vaccine against heart disease would surely be worth ...
Pharma Struggles Chemical & Engineering News - Nov 16, 2008 After explosive growth in its first 18 months on the market, Gardasil, a vaccine for human papillomavirus, has experienced sales declines for two quarters ...
Change your lifestyle Hindu, India - Nov 8, 2008 Scientists are trying to develop a ?vaccine? against diabetes so that it stops the destruction of pancreatic beta cells in humans. ...
The AAP and Dr. Tayloe: Ignoring a generation of sick kids Age of Autism, Trumbull - Nov 13, 2008 Tayloe said that he intends to focus on 5 main areas this coming year -- "Medicaid payments, vaccine financing issues, fair payment of pediatricians, ...
Family Health with Beatrice Politi Financial Post, Canada - Nov 27, 2008 Now he is on a mission to deliver one simple message - get the meningococcal vaccine. Hear John's story and how you can protect yourself tonight on Family ...
Croissants, cheese and foie gras to be taxed? Mon Dieu! Times Online, UK - The move comes two years after a government campaign to beat child obesity actually encouraged children to eat sweets. The report, which was leaked to ...
Take a Load off Your Feet and Lose Weight Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand - "The winner's complete attitude toward exercise shifted up a gear I just wish more New Zealanders would take their health seriously it's about valuing life ...
Taking steps toward healthier communities MPNnow.com, NY - Ideas that encourage walking and bicycling ought to be considered more often here, particularly as problems associated with obesity mount. ...
Preventing the Type 2 diabetes epidemic Globe and Mail, Canada - Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include obesity (especially abdominal obesity), inactivity, family history and increasing age. In one study, which included ...
Kids? Meals at Top Chains Loaded With Calories, Sodium MarketWatch - Aug 5, 2008 ?Even though these chains have talked a lot about wanting to be part of the solution when it comes to childhood obesity, there still aren?ta heck of a lot ...
Catching up with Diana D'Abruzzo, weight-loss champion StarNewsOnline.com, NC - But, like an alcoholic, one slip was enough to bring me back to that dark place, a place where no amount of tsk-tsking or memories of my past obesity or ...
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Implicit anti-fat bias among health professionals: is anyone immune? - BA Teachman, KD Brownell - International Journal of Obesity, 2001 - nature.com ... a larger workshop on understanding stigma of obesity, so the ... forms, and were invited
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Scientists take step toward obesity vaccine
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In what could become a new weapon in the battle of the bulge, scientists on Monday reported initial success with an experimental vaccine for obesity.
The researchers found that when they gave rats a vaccine against a "hunger hormone" called ghrelin, the animals were able to live the dream of eating what they wanted without packing on body fat. The findings, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a whole new approach to weight loss. It's a long way, however, from success in rats to similar results in people.
More research in animals and more data on safety will be needed before an obesity vaccine is widely tested in humans, according to Dr. Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
One of the next steps will be to see whether ghrelin vaccination helps already obese rodents shed pounds, Janda told Reuters Health. If a vaccine were to become a reality for humans, it would be aimed at those obese individuals who continually "yo-yo" through diet and exercise, he noted.
Secreted primarily by the stomach, ghrelin is one of the hormones that help regulate appetite, metabolism and weight. Ghrelin levels rise before a meal, putting the brakes on calorie burning and fat breakdown, then decline after a person eats. The hormone promotes weight gain and fat storage.
Janda and his colleagues aimed to decrease the hormone's activity with an anti-ghrelin vaccine. To do that, they created three ghrelin-recognizing antigens -- proteins that elicit an immune reaction.
When Janda's team administered their antigens to rats, they found that two of the antigens were able to bind to the active form of ghrelin, which then triggered the animals' immune systems to produce antibodies against the hormone.
"We're training the immune system to recognize ghrelin," Janda said.
This immune reaction apparently had effects on the animals' metabolism. Despite having free access to food and eating as much as their unvaccinated mates, the immunized rats gained less weight and boasted leaner, less flabby physiques.
That the weight effects came without diet changes was a surprise, Janda said. It means that the ghrelin vaccine acted on metabolism, and not appetite, he explained.
"They were eating the same, but still losing weight -- which is pretty cool."
Still, the human body's control of hunger, metabolism and weight is very complex, Janda noted. A highly integrated system involving the brain, nerves and numerous hormones strives to keep body weight stable, especially when calorie intake drops -- a fact that "wasn't a problem" back in the hunter-gatherer days of scarce food supplies, Janda pointed out.
Whether a ghrelin vaccine can safely and effectively alter this system remains to be seen.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, online July 31, 2006.
