Chewing gum ‘could tackle obesity’

Appetite suppressing chewing gum or injections could become the latest ways to help obese people lose weight.

Scientists at Imperial College London (ICL) have identified gut hormones which are released as people eat and tell the brain when the body has had enough.

They believe that one in particular, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), holds the potential to be used in treatments targeting obesity.

ICL researcher Professor Steve Bloom said: “Developing a treatment based on natural appetite suppression, mimicking our body’s response to being full, has the potential to be safe and effective.”

He draws attention to the fact that people with benign PP-secreting tumours have elevated levels of the hormone but appear to show no adverse side-effects.

“In that sense, they have provided us with a natural experiment that suggests that excess levels of PP over a long period are safe,” he said. “It does not appear to raise blood pressure or heart rate, or any other obvious side effects.”

As PP cannot be taken in a pill and would need to be injected daily, the researchers are working, with funding from the Wellcome Trust, towards developing a synthetic form which can be taken on a weekly basis.

Dr Caroline Small, one of the researchers, said that this could be achieved within five to eight years.

“It is likely that if we are successful, the treatment may be fast tracked to meet the urgent demand to tackle the obesity crisis,” Dr Small said.

“There is currently a lack of effective treatments and our proposed drug is based on a natural way of controlling the body’s appetite, which makes it more attractive.”

Government statistics last year revealed that there could be 12 million obese adults living in the UK by 2010 unless steps are taken to halt the increase.