New treatment helps obese patients to feel full

In the race to develop drugs to fight obesity, researchers have found a possible new treatment to help obese patients "feel full" and have lauded it a success.

They say they have been given a crucial breakthrough in developing drugs to tackle obesity by a hormone found in the small intestine.

This latest study involved patients being given injections of oxyntomodulin, a naturally occurring digestive hormone.

The injections give a boost to the body's existing levels of oxyntomodulin, which is normally released from the small intestine as food is consumed.

This gives a signal to the brain that the body is full and has had enough to eat.

The researchers, who were led by Professor Steve Bloom, of Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital, hoped that injections of the drug would help reduce body weight and calorific intake in those taking part in the study.

In the study a total of 26 volunteers took part in a four-week trial; 14 were given oxyntomodulin jabs and a control group of 12 were given saline injections.

The injections were given three times a day.

The researchers found that after four weeks, the group taking oxyntomodulin reduced their weight by an average of 2.3kg, compared to 0.3kg in the control group.

They also found that the daily energy intake in the test group reduced, by an average 170 calories after the first injection and 250 calories at the trial's end.

The study is published in the journal Diabetes.