NEWS
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 17, 2005
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3A
HEALTH
Obesity drugs no excuse for short cuts
BY JEFF DONN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — There's no free lunch with diet pills, new research concludes: They work much better accompanied by the hard work of dieting and exercise.
The study backed by the National Institutes of Health is the biggest and best yet to demonstrate why obese people should adopt healthy habits, even if they take weight-loss drugs, researchers said.
"If you pit this medication against your favorite all-youcan-eat buffet, the ... buffet is going to win nine out of 10 times. So it's important you try to modify eating habits," advised University of Pennsylvania psychologist Thomas Wadden, who led the study published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Medical guidelines have recommended that obese patients also change eating and exercise habits since doctors first began prescribing today's long-term weight-loss medicines in the late 1990s. Still, many patients fail or ignore the advice.
Yet in the one-year study, the most successful patients took the weight-loss drug Meridia along with 30 sessions of group counseling that promoted a 1,500-calorie daily diet and half-hour walks on most days. It was especially effective when patients recorded how much they ate each day.
Obese people who took pills alone typically lost 11 pounds in the study. When they added the full program promoting lifestyle changes, they lost 27 pounds — more than twice as
much.
A third group took the drug with brief doctor's counseling, and a fourth underwent only group counseling. Within five months, those two groups lost a bit more weight than the group that only took the drug, but all three of these groups were roughly equal after a year.
It is unclear how well the study patients will keep off their lost weight in future years. Researchers also hope that future studies will clarify whether doctors can offer better counseling to approximate the results of extended group sessions. Such in-office sessions would be faster and cheaper.
Dr. Samuel Klein, an obesity expert at Washington University in St. Louis, said the study nonetheless established the importance of coupling dieting and exercise with drug therapy in obese patients. Otherwise, he warned, "you expose them to all the risks and all the costs of the medication — without the full benefits."
While acknowledging that lifestyle changes are difficult, specialists widely prefer them for patients who can shed pounds that way. The side effects of Abbott Laboratories' Meridia, known chemically as sibutramine, include higher heart rate and blood pressure in some patients.
Dr. Susan Yanovski, at the National Institutes of Health, warned in an accompanying editorial that obesity medicines should undergo especially careful scrutiny for safety, because they are often misused by patients who are not obese.
It's a dirty job...
Candice Rukes/KANSAN
Ryan Bigley, San Antonio sophomore, helps with the 2005 Waste Audit as he sorts through trash from Carruth-O'Leary Hall to find how many recyclables were thrown away. Bigley is a member of the Environmental Stewardship Program, also known as KU Recycling. In last year's audit, 116 pounds of recyclable office and newspaper material were recovered from the trash in Wescoe Hall. KU Recycling will sponsor a Residential Recycling Drop-off on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
Chairman wants party unity
GOVERNMENT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas Republican Party Chairman Tim Shallenburger says either the party pulls itself together soon or he's gone.
Shallenburger said the party can't continue to be divided into conservative and moderate camps, split over such issues as abortion and taxes.
"I don't believe that's a winning situation," he told The Kansas City Star for a story in its Wednesday editions. "So I'll
leave if that should occur.
Shallenburger, 10 months into his two-year term, said he would find out at the GOP's annual Kansas Day gathering in late January whether the party's two factions could "play in the same sandbox or not."
Kansas Day, he told The Star, "is where the rubber will hit the road."
The party has reached the point that it can no longer tolerate conservative Republicans who refuse to back moderates and moderates who throw their
support to Democrats such as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, said Shallenburger, who lost to Sebelius in 2002.
"When I ran for governor, there were Republican county chairmen who had Sebelius signs in their front yards," he said. "You don't do that. We may put something in about what being Republican means and how party people should act."
As 2006 looms, no top-tier GOP candidates have emerged to challenge Sebelius or U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.
CORRECTION
◆ A graphic credit in Wednesday'sThe University Daily Kansan was left off the page. Taylor Miller created the photo illustration for "The second coming."
CORRECTION
ON THE RECORD
♦ A 19-year-old KU student reported to Lawrence police the theft of some items between 6 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday from the 1400 block of Anthony Michael Drive. The items are valued at $83.
♦ A 21-year-old KU student reported to Lawrence police the theft of a specialized bicycle and a cable lock between 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and 6:45 p.m. from the 1000 block of Kentucky Street. The bicycle is valued at $320. The cable lock is valued at $15.
- A 25-year-old KU student reported to Lawrence police the theft of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Nov. 9 from the 1300 block of Stone Meadows Drive.
A 30-year-old KU student reported to the KU Public Safety Office damage to a kickstand on a BMW motorcycle between noon and 2 p.m. Monday in lot 90, next to the Robinson Center. The damage is estimated at $100.
ON CAMPUS
♦ Samantha Power, Harvard professor, Pulitzer Prize winner and former executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, is delivering a speech called "Can U.S. Foreign Policy Be Fixed?" at 7:30 tonight in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
♦ The African Student Association is serving an African Thanksgiving dinner at 6 p.m. Sunday at Ecumenical Christian Ministries.
Note: The University Daily Kansan prints campus events that are free and open to the public. Submission forms are available in the Kansan newsroom, 11 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Items must be turned in two days in advance of the desired publication date. On Campus is printed on a space-available basis.
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
November 17,2005