CNBC reported today that a company called Vivus has a drug called Qnexa that reduced the weight of participants in a trial by 14% after one year of taking the drug.
I know a lot or research is being done on how glutamate regulates weight so I was curious on what was in this drug. I found it is a combination of Topomax (topiramate, an anti-convulsant) and phentermine (an amphetamine which was part of the horrible weight loss drug Fen Phen).
The amphetamine is only there to reduce hunger so it is not something I am interested in, but there it was, topiramate, which is known to reduce extracellular glutamate in the body. The topiramate helps restore function to the pancreas by stopping the destruction of beta cells in the pancreas caused by glutamate excitosis. The thing to note is that the trial was performed on obese people with type 2 diabetes. Qnexa helps restore pancreatic function by stopping the destruction of the pancreas by glutamate, that in turn normalizes blood sugar and helps return the body to homeostasis. But the point I want to make is that YOU DO NOT NEED QNEXA TO RESTORE PANCREATIC FUNCTION. You only need to reduce your levels of dietary glutamate. Or, you could take resveratrol which has the same action but with less cost and no side effects.
So, here is your choice, you can spend money on pharm drugs which will undoubtedly give you side effects. Or, you can choose foods that have low levels of free and bound glutamate. Because the only things these pharm drugs do is block the effects of the food additives in the typical shitty American diet.
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