The recent advent of highly effective anti-obesity medications (AOM) provides pediatric clinicians a powerful tool to augment the treatment of obesity and improve outcomes. The 2023 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines state clinicians "should offer adolescents 12 years and older with obesity weight loss pharmacotherapy, according to medication indications, risks, and benefits, as an adjunct to health behavior and lifestyle treatment". This article will provide an update on the integration of AOM into practice, emphasizing clinical pearls and practical tips.
Aims/background: Obesity is characterized by excessive body fat and is a chronic and complex disease. The medications used to date for the treatment of obesity have exhibited various side effects. Thus, new substances must be sought from alternative sources as anti-obesity drugs.
Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Obesity is a pandemic problem that correlates with a cluster of metabolic factors leading to poor cardiovascular outcomes, morbidity, and an increased risk of overall mortality. It is necessary to approach obesity with a comprehensive treatment plan, which may involve lifestyle modifications (diet, exercise, and behavioral therapy) and pharmacological interventions. This article provides an overview of the mechanisms of action, efficacy, and safety of available long-term anti-obesity drugs and introduces other potential agents under investigation.
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) were originally developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but have recently been approved for chronic weight management and reducing cardiovascular risk in individuals with overweight and obesity. Despite this approval, significant heterogeneity in the cardioprotective benefits and less desirable increases in resting heart rate (RHR) with GLP-1 RAs have been reported. To better understand cardiovascular responses to GLP-1 RAs, and the potential role of health behaviors in influencing these responses, we leveraged wearable technology and causal inference analysis.
Lactobacillus plantarum KX041 is a probiotics obtained from early screening, which can relieve inflammation and enrich the anti-obesity intestinal flora, and produce high yield of exopolysaccharides (EPS). The extraction, structure and physicochemical properties of EPS have been completed earlier. However, whether the functional activity of L.
Obesity requires treatment as it is associated with health problems such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers, which increase mortality rates. Achieving sufficient weight loss to reduce obesity-related diseases requires a variety of interventions, including comprehensive lifestyle modification of diet and exercise, change in behavior, anti-obesity medications, and surgery. To date, anti-obesity agents with various mechanisms of action have been developed, and mostly reduce energy intake, resulting in weight loss of about 5% to 10% compared to baseline.
