Ya gotta laugh at the way many so-called “journalistic” websites report the news about obesity. Take this article on the new drug combination Qnexa, for example. (View full article here.)

They’re so anxious to report that something, anything, will fix the overweight condition, they’re willing to write around some obvious truths and obscure the real news people need.

Here are my notes on key segments of the story:

A combination of two drugs — along with advice regarding healthy diet and exercise — may be an effective treatment for obesity, a new study suggests.

Pat’s Note: The words “along with advice regarding healthy diet and exercise” – ADVICE? How about adherence? That’s all you need. And why do they always say “it works, along with healthy diet and exercise”? If healthy diet and exercise were present, we wouldn’t need drugs. They actually include that phrase as a way out – when it doesn’t work, they blame the patient for not adding the “healthy diet and exercise.”

Participants in the study who took the drug combination lost more weight on average than those who took a placebo. Seventy percent of subjects who took a high dose of the two drugs, phentermine and topiramate, experienced a 5 percent weight loss after one year.

Pat’s Note: If you weigh 200 lbs., that’s a 10 pound weight loss! Sound like it’s worth it to be on a “high dose” of a “new drug combination” for 10 lbs. I can get you 10 pounds in a lot of healthy ways!

The weight loss achieved from this drug combination was greater than that seen in earlier studies of patients who took orlistat, currently the only drug approved to treat obesity over the long term.

Pat’s Note: Big Whoop! Not saying much there.

And later:

However, others argue patients in this study were highly selected — only a few were chosen per month out of the many that were eligible — so researchers don’t know whether the general population of overweight and obese individuals could lose the same amount of weight, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance, who was not involved in the study.

Pat’s Note: Just a minor point – will it work for the general population?

In addition, patients were not studied after they stopped taking the medication, so it’s not clear whether the weight loss could be maintained over the long term. Patients might have to be on the drugs for the rest of their lives, Cohen said, and the safety of such a regime is not known.

Pat’s Note: I can’t believe we’re even still talking about this ridiculous protocol for HUMAN BEINGS. Obviously, researchers care about the immediate research period (which is usually only 12 weeks), not human lives.

Although not common in the study, some patients on the drugs experienced serious side effects, including anxiety and depression. Side effects were worse with a higher dose of medication. There has been concern over the safety of weight loss drugs in recent years. In October, the weight loss drug Meridia was removed from the market after it was linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. And in February, the Food and Drug Administration rejected approval of the weight loss drug Contrave, citing concerns with the drug’s potential cardiovascular risks.

“What we need to know is will taking these medications increase or decrease the amount of strokes and heart attacks these patients will experience,” Cohen said.

Pat’s Note: Yes, it might be good to know that.

And ya really gotta love this paragraph:

Phentermine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the short-term treatment of obesity, meaning that patients can take it for about 12 weeks. But no rigorously designed studies have looked at the drug’s effects over the long term. Topiramate is a drug used to treat seizures. It has been shown to assist in weight loss in previous studies, but often causes psychiatric side effects at high doses. It was thought a combination of the drugs using lower doses might be more tolerable.

Pat’s Notes: No long term studies? Why does that surprise me? Again, we’re only talking about HUMAN lives.

After a little more than a year, participants in the placebo group lost an average of 3 pounds (1.4 kg), participants in the lower dose drug combination group lost an average of 18 pounds (8.1 kg) and those in the higher dose group lost an average of 22 pounds (10.2 kg).

Pat’s Notes: 22 pounds? With those risks? Overweight does not equal stupid!

Here’s the real kicker – the real news is buried at the end of the article:

Pass it on: A combination of two drugs generated up to a 10 percent weight loss in obese individuals after one year. However, more research is needed to see whether the results apply to the general population and investigate the safety of the drugs.

Pat’s Notes: And how many people read all the way to the end? Unlike results, this article is typical – typical of drug companies in search of profits at the cost of lives.