Obesity Pill

Arena Pharmaceutical's experimental obesity drug, Lorcaserin, cleared another hurdle en route to FDA approval but the results were less than hoped for. With the relatively disappointing results, share prices fell this week.

It's no secret that Americans are fat. Two thirds of us are overweight and about 100 million Americans are obese. In a nation of fast food, caloric excess, massive sugar consumption, weird breakfast cereals, soda machines in schools, 600 empty calorie 'afternoon snacks', and a general culture that promotes excess (as we're seeing with the economy these days, it hasn't just been caloric excess we've been guilty of the past few decades), it's no wonder that we're looking for a quick fix and hang our hopes on Arena Pharmaceutical Inc.

Let me tell you something we already know- there is no quick fix. I admit that obesity and overweight is a complicated issue. In the old days, we would simply say, "eat less and exercise more." But most clinicians understand that we've let the obesity beast get out of control and for many people, that simple mantra (still repeated in many health clubs across the U.S.) just doesn't hold true any more. Don't get me wrong- you absolutely must exercise. But we understand that there is much more to the picture of weight loss.

In April, we'll spend time taking a different look at weight loss. I'll explain some of the vicious cycles that can promote further weight gain and what you can do about them.