Obesity is a growing health problem around the world. It raises the risk of many serious conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and fatty liver. Yet, despite how common obesity is, there are still no widely available pills that can effectively treat severe cases.
But a recent study from Johns Hopkins Medicine offers hope. Scientists there have been studying a drug that was originally created to treat other serious illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and sickle cell disease. Surprisingly, this same drug may help reduce obesity — and even improve heart health — without any need to change diet or exercise habits.
The drug works by blocking a protein in the body called PDE9. This protein affects how cells send signals using a chemical messenger called cyclic GMP.
When PDE9 is too active, it can harm the heart, especially in people with high blood pressure. Back in 2015, the same team of researchers found that PDE9 was involved in heart disease. Now they’ve discovered that stopping it might also help with obesity.
In the study, researchers gave mice a PDE9-blocking drug known as PF-04447943. This drug had already been tested in humans years ago by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. At the time, it was being tested as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, but it didn’t work well for that purpose. However, the trials showed that it was safe and did not cause serious side effects in people.
When used in mice, the drug helped reduce body fat, lower cholesterol, and improve blood sugar levels. It also helped the heart work better and reduced fat in the liver — all without the mice changing what they ate or how much they moved. These results are especially exciting because they suggest a new way to fight obesity that doesn’t rely on willpower alone.
Right now, drugs that block PDE9 are still being tested. They are not available for people to use yet. However, the research is promising. A different PDE9-blocking drug is already being tested in humans for heart failure, which may help speed up progress toward treating other conditions like obesity.
Obesity affects more than 40% of people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among American women over the age of 60, nearly 43% are obese. That’s why finding new ways to treat it is so important.
If this new drug works in people the same way it does in mice, a person who weighs 250 pounds could potentially lose around 50 pounds — and do so without strict dieting or exercise plans.
The lead researcher, Dr. David Kass, believes this discovery could change the way we think about weight gain and weight loss. Many people assume that obesity is only caused by overeating, but this study suggests that changes in how the body handles signals and chemicals may also play a major role.
Of course, more studies are needed to make sure the drug is safe and effective in humans. Scientists will need to test it in larger groups of people and monitor for any side effects. But if those tests go well, this drug could be a major step forward in the fight against obesity.
For now, the results bring hope. A future where people can manage their weight with a simple pill may not be far off. This could offer relief to millions of people who have tried everything to lose weight but have struggled with little success.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight .
For more health information, please see recent studies that Mediterranean diet can reduce belly fat much better, and Keto diet could help control body weight and blood sugar in diabetes.
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