Anti-obesity vaccine
Date: 17.8.2006
Mature male rats that received the jab ate normally yet gained less weight and had less body fat, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The vaccine, described by an American team in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may be especially important to stop "yo-yo dieting".
The vaccine acts against ghrelin, a naturally occurring hormone that helps to regulate energy balance in the body.
Prof Kim Janda of the Scripps Research Institute, California, said: "Our study is the first published evidence proving that preventing ghrelin from reaching the central nervous system can produce a desired reduction in weight gain."
According to the World Health Organization, about one billion people worldwide are overweight or obese.
Prof Janda told The Daily Telegraph: "We could speed quickly into human trials, maybe in a year, but we are going to be more cautious."
"Source":[ http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1936297.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery]
