Prescription Medications to Treat Obesity: Nowadays it seems to be a trend for many people worldwide to get overweight and even extremely overweight forces the need for new types of anti-obesity medications that effectively can at least control the body processes that lead to these conditions. There is a largely widespread misconception that people have the willpower to cope with this specific condition. In other words, it’s thought that if a person tries to control their hunger and cravings every minute, they will lose weight, but it’s not how it works in practice. That’s mainly because obesity is rooted deep in psychological factors. The condition is a complex metabolic disease and helping the patients needs to be on different levels.
What are the Different Prescription Medications for Obesity?
The different types of weight loss medications work in various ways and their effectiveness depends on the specific metabolic and body characteristics. One of the most popular in the last few years is The GLP-1 receptor agonists. They work by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which releases insulin after you eat and sends a signal to the brain that you are full. This newest class of weight loss drugs also slows down the action of the gut, to keep you feeling fuller for longer.
- Danish Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy with the active substance semaglutide, a once-weekly injection, are approved to treat type-2 diabetes, but not weight loss. Although they consist of the same active ingredient, these medicines are not completely interchangeable. People using them achieved good progress, which is why the drugs are quite usable off-label. It means it’s used for a purpose other than those it is approved to treat.
- Zepbound (weight loss) and Mounjaro (diabetes) with active substance tirzepatide, a once-weekly injection, manufactured by the US company Eli Lilly.
- Saxenda and Victoza with active substance liraglutide, a daily injection, which can be used also by children above 10 years old, again manufactured by the Danish company Novo Nordisk.
What Other Variants Are There for Dealing With Obesity – Stimulants
Another type of weight loss medicine is so-called Stimulants. They have a long history in obesity treatment. An example is Qsymia. This medication contains two active ingredients phentermine, a medication similar to amphetamines, and topiramate, an anti-seizure medication. Together, they reduce appetite and can lead to weight loss. Phentermine has been used for decades, and it is the most widely prescribed weight loss treatment.
The third drug class is Opioid antagonist combination pills. Contrave and Mysimba are such weight loss pills that have two active ingredients: naltrexone, an opioid antagonist, which is used to treat substance use disorder, and bupropion, an antidepressant that also helps people stop smoking. The combination of the two can decrease cravings and keep people feeling full for longer.
Prescription Medications to Treat Obesity – Diet Pills
The fourth type of prescription medications for dealing with obesity is diet pills that impact fat. Some diet pills work by limiting the amount of fat that your body can absorb or how it forms fat deposits. Within this category, there are two types of weight loss pills, including an over-the-counter option, which are:
- Lipase inhibitors slow down the absorption of fat in the gut. Together with a low-fat diet, they can facilitate weight loss. A representative of this group is Alli an over-the-counter pill and Xenical (orlistat) is a prescription lipase inhibitor.
- Imcivree (setmelanotide) is a melanocortin receptor agonist that’s used for the treatment of genetic obesity caused by a rare single-gene mutation. In the case of overweight one of these medicines can be prescribed, but the question of the safety and the side effects stays. All of them have different side effects which should be carefully reconsidered according to the individual health status.
- On the opposite side to help with the kilograms some natural food supplements can be used based on hesperidin. It’s a flavanone glycoside – a natural phenolic compound with a wide range of biological effects. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that hesperidin possesses an inhibitory effect against obesity diseases. Hesperidin actually regulates lipid metabolism and glucose metabolism, directly regulates antioxidant index and anti-apoptosis, and indirectly regulates inflammation to play a role in the treatment of obesity. The newest researches show how big the potential of this product is against the overweight globally.
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