Animal Study Suggests Similarities Between Addiction, Obesity

Animal Study Suggests Similarities Between Addiction, Obesity
August 21, 2008

Research Summary

A study examining the treatment potential of the medication vigabatrin indicates some similarities between addiction and obesity, Reuters reported Aug. 21.

The study using rats found that the drug, also known as GVG and now being tested for use to treat addiction in humans, led to a weight loss of up to 19 percent in rodent subjects bred to be obese. A research team at the federal government's Brookhaven National Laboratory reported that steady weight loss while the rats were receiving vigabatrin was followed by steady weight gain when they were off the medication.

"It was also dose-dependent," said researcher Amy DeMarco. "Rats given higher doses would lose more weight."

The researchers said the medication appears to work on the brain's dopamine reward system, which governs both addictive and overeating behaviors. Vigabatrin is presently being tested for use in the treatment of cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. The company conducting these Phase II trials, Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla., also plans to test the medication for alcohol dependence and binge eating disorder.

Study results were published in the journal Synapse.

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COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by tokerdesigner on 27 Aug 08 05:17 PM EDT

1. Imagine challenging obese patients, who have shown a desire to reduce weight, to conduct a personal inventory of addictions! 2. This strategy must take into account that there are both positive addictions (such as overeating) and negative addictions (such as forgetting to exercise). Some help from Dr. Freud may be in order to figure out what triggers unconscious forgetting, or ignoring of opportunities to do the thing you are addicted to not doing. 3. I think obesity may be related to a positive addiction to premature swallowing (i.e. before food has been chewed enough to extract the more subtle nutrients which pass through unused, whereas sugars are more easily harvested from incompletely chewed food). Then more food is taken as compensation. 4. The social habit of sit-down dinners, widely praised as a device for family cohesion, may be harmful because more food is usually served (especially meat) than there is enough time to chew adequately. Children learn to swallow hurriedly in order to answer something Johnny said, etc.

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