ARE APPETITE SUPPRESSANTS HELPFUL?

In order to understand how appetite suppressants work, here’s what you need to know:

1. Numerous hormones affect hunger According to Professor Joe Proietto from Austin Health, numerous hormones affect hunger and are produced in different parts of the body. They include:

• Hunger stimulators Stomach: Ghrelin

Colon: Insulin-like Peptide 5 (ILP-5)

• Hunger inhibitors: Upper small bowel: Cholecystokinin (CCK)

Lower small bowel: Peptide YY (PYY), Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1), Oxyntomodulin, Uroguanylin

Fat cells: Leptin

Pancreas: Insulin, Amylin, Pancreatic Polypeptide (PP)

2. Some people benefit from appetite suppressants after weight loss: “After obese people have lost weight we prescribe drugs to help suppress their appetite,” says Proietto. “Otherwise they are constantly fighting their genes, which increase their hunger hormones, and it’s a battle that most people lose.”

Talk to your endocrinologist or diabetes educator about whether hunger-suppressing medications might help you. Proietto says the main drugs his clinic uses are duromine and saxenda, and a third medication, called Topamax. “As nature tends to give us numerous hormones that affect hunger I often prescribe all three drugs, unless there are contraindications – for example, people with arrhythmias or coronary heart disease should not take some of these drugs,” says the professor.