John LeBoutillier
Monday, Aug. 11, 2003

It is an epidemic.

And it is already causing major health and economic problems.

The related medical problems are costing our country billions of dollars, not to mention the suffering of the patients and their families.

Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, joint and orthopedic problems, and cancer are all directly related to being grossly overweight. Depression, too, may result from obesity.

In sum, being overweight is a serious – and deadly – health problem.

Anyone who looks around in an airport or shopping mall is taken aback by the change in the American 'physique.' Now it is the thin person who stands out. Twenty years ago the obese 'fatty' was noticeable; today this person is the norm.

By now we all know the 'whys': too much fast food, which is loaded with calories and fat; too little exercise; too much time sitting in front of televisions and computers.

But the cure to this deadly national epidemic is tougher to implement than to articulate: eating less – much less – and exercising more. Losing weight, especially after you reach middle age, is very difficult. Weight goes on much faster than it comes off.

Frankly speaking, you have to wonder if most obese people have 'what it takes' to get a grip on their problem. Do they have the self-discipline to cut their caloric intake down to about 1,200 per day, after eating probably 6,000 to 10,000 per day? Can they withstand the massive hunger pangs that will grip them for weeks until their bodies adjust? Do they have the mental toughness to stay away from a Big Mac or a milkshake?

Well, for those who can't cut out the overeating, there is hope in the form of a new drug that so far has shown great promise in experiments on monkeys. KB-141, a hormonal compound, dropped a whopping 7 percent of body weight in just one week – with no apparent side effects. KB-141 works on the same principle as the hormone produced by the thyroid gland, boosting the metabolic rate without increasing the heartbeat.

Of course, these tests were on monkeys and we have years to go before the drug could be cleared for use on obese people. But at least it is hopeful.

While most research into obesity has focused on appetite suppression, Gary Grover of Bristol-Myers Squibb said he decided to look for ways to help burn more energy but do it in the safest way possible. "This is really a novel way of looking at obesity," he said.

"It's an interesting and intriguing finding, but it needs more investigation," added Brian Henry of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Grover stressed that he is not administering thyroid hormones, which is permitted only for patients whose thyroids do not function properly. The goal, he said, is to develop a treatment to assist obese people with normal thyroid function.

Some medical breakthrough like KB-141 is going to cure obesity one of these days. We just can't keep getting fatter as a nation; we need to get back in shape – physically, fiscally and spiritually.

John LeBoutillier, a former U.S. congressman, is an author and columnist. E-mail him at lebout@newsmax.com

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