The world seems to be going downhill fast. There’s bad news on the economy wherever you look. President Obama is signing the Stimulus Package and saying everything will get better, some time in the future. What does all this mean? It means more stress. People no longer have the confidence their jobs will survive. Their homes are at risk because there’s not enough money to keep up the instalments. How will people react? One of the reasons why we eat is fear. We associate food with survival. This happens because of the fight-or-flight reflex. When we anticipate the need to flee, the body releases adrenaline which controls appetite. In some, the result is people stop eating so they remain alert to their surroundings. In others, they eat to build up energy to use if flight becomes necessary. (more…)

It’s impossible for anyone on the planet not to be aware that smoking tobacco causes a number of usually fatal diseases. Almost every country has graphic pictures on the packets showing lungs riddled with cancers. The local Surgeon Generals plaster warnings alongside the pictures. Shops are often required to keep their stocks of cigarettes off the shelves so that impulse buying is ruled out. Age limits are more strictly enforced. Bans on smoking in public places are slowly spreading. Tobacco is heavily taxed in many countries so the retail prices are a deterrent. Even in the US, there’s major litigation against the tobacco companies for misdescribing cigarettes as “safe”. The most recent decision of the Supreme Court confirms an action over the advertising of “Lite” cigarettes can proceed. In short, everything that can reasonably be done, is being done to encourage people to quit. But millions of people still smoke. No matter what you say to people, nicotine is a highly addictive substance. (more…)

No matter which government you ask around the world, there’s one common health concern. Too many people are overweight. The result? The cost to medical insurance companies and those governments with socialized medical services has spiralled out of control as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have run like an epidemic through local communities. In three years time, it’s estimated that more than two billion people will be overweight and, of those, 600 million will be clinically obese. We cannot afford to allow this trend to continue. But there’s a problem. There’s massive demand for drugs to help people lose weight, but there’s a serious shortage of supply. Many of the drugs that went through evaluation were refused approval because they did not produce consistent results or, when there were good results, the risks of side-effects were unacceptable. For those drugs that were approved, the retail prices were high. States considered them “lifestyle” drugs and not medications worthy of subsidy. Put together, there were too many barriers for these drugs to keep pace with demand. (more…)

Let’s start with a few facts. If dieting was the way to lose weight, noone would have a weight problem. Similarly, if physical exercise was the key to slimming, even the most reluctant couch potato would rise and do a little speed walking. But permanent weight loss is a slightly more complicated process. Looking at the results of all the clinical trials for Acomplia, the participants lost an average of 10% of their body weight and some three inches from their waist measurements. All the trials have a control group who get to diet and do physical exercise but only get a placebo. In every trial, it was the combination of Acomplia plus the diet and exercise that produced the significant weight loss and enabled participants to keep their weight down over time. (more…)

This week has seen real drama in the boardroom of Sanofi-Aventis, the company that manufactures the weight loss medication Acomplia so popular in Europe. This company is the third largest pharmaceutical manufacturer by sales in the world. After reports of discord at the top and rumors of a shareholder revolt by Total and L’Oreal, the CEO has stepped down and has been replaced by a senior executive headhunted from GlaxoSmithKline. (more…)

On 15th July, the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies Congress began a discussion of the medicinal role of cannabis. It is routinely used for controlling nausea among patients on chemotherapy and for encouraging appetite among AIDS patients. It is now licensed for the control of neuropathic pain in adults suffering from cancer and multiple sclerosis. So medical science has been able to strip away the “unwanted” psychoactive symptoms and use the cannabinoid components to target the specific diseases. (more…)

Those nice people from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have issued new guidelines to doctors in the UK recommending they make greater use of Acomplia. NICE has the responsibility of leading the fight against obesity. It has adopted a national policy that urgent action is needed, but there are only a few treatments considered suitable for patients. (more…)

If you are trying to lose weight, but feel that it’s pointless because you smoke, now’s your chance to take advantage of the advances made in the medical field. Acomplia is a doctor prescribed medication that has made advances in the field of medication. Approved in the European Union in 2006, this drug is somewhat of a miracle drug for most people, although advertising it as such would be foolish. This is an anti-obesity drug which enables the users to fight their own issues with the ongoing battle of the bulge. (more…)

Acomplia is a doctor prescribed medication that offers its patients the ability to rid themselves of both excess weight in addition to curbing their need to smoke. Studies show that weight gain is related to the quitting of smoking. All too often, people who smoke will say that the reason they don’t quit smoking is because they don’t want to gain the weight that they will inevitably gain. In addition, those folks who do manage to quit smoking find it hard to lose weight through exercise because they’ve caused damage to their lung capacity and breathing ability. (more…)

One of the stereotypes of an alcoholic is that of an overweight individual. There are two main reasons for this The first is that people who spend a lot of their time drinking tend not to be physically active. They sit comfortably at home on a couch with bottles to hand, or lounge in a bar. Wherever they sit, the diet is also likely to be conveience based with is usually high in carbohydrates. The second reason is that alcohol itself has a direct “fat-building” effect. (more…)