This blog describes two recent research studies about obesity treatment.
The first study is by Ma and colleagues published in the International Journal of Obesity on Nov. 8, 2023 compared alternate-day fasting (ADF) to 3 other weight loss approaches.
They found that ADF was superior to the three other methods with greater weight loss and greater loss of waist circumference. This was the case for both overweight and obese subjects.
If your current approach to weight loss is not working, you might consider looking up ADF online.
The second research study described in this blog was by Aronne and colleagues published in JAMA online on Dec. 11, 2023. The research compared obese patients given a new weight-loss medicine, tirzepatide for 36 months compared with others who took it for 52 months.
Tirzepatide is an injectable medication that was given at high doses (10-15 mg) once a week. All patients met criteria for obesity without diabetes.
All patients received lifestyle counseling (decrease calories and increase regular exercise).
Half the patients stopped receiving tirzepatide after 36 weeks and were given a placebo shot for 16 more weeks. The other half continued to receive tirzepatide during those 16 additional weeks (total of one year).
Comparing the outcomes for the two groups at the end of one year showed that those who remained on the tirzepatide did better than those who stopped receiving it after 36 weeks.
Those who continued the tirzepatide lost an additional 20.9% of their body weight, whereas those who were switched to a placebo injection gained 14% of their body weight.
The researchers concluded that tirzepatide is an effective weight loss medication at these high doses, but it needs to be continued for over a year. It may be that it needs to be taken indefinitely.
The FDA has approved tirzepatide for the treatment of obesity (brand name for the treatment of obesity is Zepbound). There is another brand-name tirzepatide product for diabetes (Mounjaro).
Peter M. Hartmann, MD
Family Medicine & Psychiatry
