Injection Of Natural Hormone Promotes Weight Loss

Self-administered subcutaneous injections of a substance called oxyntomodulin lead to weight loss and an apparent reduction in fat deposits, UK researchers report. "Oxyntomodulin is a natural hormone," senior investigator Dr. Stephen R. Bloom told Reuters Health, "which is released every day after a normal meal and acts to make you feel less hungry. This study showed administering it before a meal decreased food intake and produced a very significant weight loss, greater than other marketed or near-to-market agents, over the 4 weeks studied." Bloom, of Hammersmith Hospital in London, and colleagues note in the journal Diabetes that oxyntomodulin is one of several gut hormones that have been found to modulate appetite. It has been shown to reduce food intake in both animals and humans.