From: caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg)
Subject: Re: Weight Loss with Dexfenflouramine
Organization: Omen Technology INC, Portland Rain Forest
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 11:48:30 GMT

In article <17379@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>In article <1992Nov03.144255.731@omen.UUCP> caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg) writes:
>
>>
>>regain.  As the Weintraub study (discussed in Adiposity 101)
>>showed, most dieters regain weight even when they do not go off
>>their diets.
>>
>Hmmm.  I read the study and didn't get that.  Most dieters
>regain because they can't stay on the diet forever.  The
>drug allows them to do that.  Also, Weintraub's patients
>did regain some, just not as much as those without the drug.

I do believe the quote (p. 618) supports my contention more than Gordon's:

	Overall, the data from the this phase of the long term weight
	control study reflect what has been commonly known about
	cessation of weight control interventions in animals and humans;
	that is, that weight will return toward its baseline level
	whenever a previously instituted perturbation (such as diet,
	exercise, modified protein fast, behavior modification, or jaw
	wiring) has been completed.  In this case, continued diet,
	exercise, and behavior modification also did not help the
	subjects to avoid regaining lost weight.  However, it also
	appears that subjects are able to control their intake and
	maintain a certain level of increased exercise despite an
	increase in body weight.

Please read the following (p. 581-2) carefully until it sinks in:

	After completion of the initial study, my colleagues and I
	undertook further explorations of the value of anorexiant
	medications as part of a multimodal intervention program.
	Despite the findings of clinical trials such as these, the
	public and health professionals remain skeptical about
	anorexiant medications.  There are many reasons for their
	negative views of anorexiant medications.  Both the medical
	profession and society look with disfavor on obese people and
	obesity in general.  For example, students at a well-known
	university preferred a number of less savory people to obese
	individuals as potential marriage partners.  Obese people are
	treated negatively in cartoons and in literature.  Many believe
	that obese people need only to "close their mouths" and to be
	more motivated to lose weight.  Thus use of medications to
	correct a characterologic defect is, in the opinion of
	physicians and the public, deemed inappropriate.

	Unfortunately, a lack of understanding of both the natural
	history of obesity and its diversity adds to the pejorative view
	of obese people and of anorexiants.  Some health professionals
	are not aware of data concerning mechanisms present in the human
	organism that act to countervene perturbations in body weight
	and that may account for the apparent failure of interventions,
	including medications.

-- 
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX          ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf 
Author of YMODEM, ZMODEM, Professional-YAM, ZCOMM, and DSZ
  Omen Technology Inc    "The High Reliability Software"
17505-V NW Sauvie IS RD   Portland OR 97231   503-621-3406
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.med.nutrition