July 10, 2000

An experimental cancer treatment may have a surprising and valuable side effect: Weight loss.

The experimental drug made its test subjects lose a significant amount of weight.

Researchers found in mice, the drug fooled their brains into thinking they had eaten. But weight loss experts say it's too soon to tell if this will become the miracle drug.

With half the country considered clinically overweight, doctors have long hoped for better weight-loss treatments. A new cancer treatment being studied by Johns Hopkins may the next big thing.

The chemical - called C-75 - was tested on mice. Twenty minutes after taking the drug, the rodents lost their appetites.

Marty Lamb/LDS Hospital Fitness Institute: "IT'S AN APPETITE SUPPRESSANT. SOME OF THE MICE ACTUALLY LOST 25 PERCENT OF THEIR BODY WEIGHT IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME."

Marty Lamb with the Fitness Institute at LDS Hospital is excited about possibilities of the new drug.

The drug kept metabolism high and the mice burned fat. Their appetite returned once the drug wore off.

But she believes it's unlikely humans would see a 25 percent drop in a couple of days.

Marty Lamb/LDS Hospital Fitness Institute: "THAT'S A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT LOSS. I'M NOT SURE YOU'D SEE THE SAME RESULTS IN A HUMAN. YOU DON'T ALWAYS CORRELATE EXACTLY BETWEEN MICE AND HUMANS."

And until more study about the drug is done, she says the only proven fat fighters are diet and exercise.

Marty Lamb/LDS Hospital Fitness Institute: "WE HAVE TO LOOK AT IT WITH A CAUTIOUS EYE. THERE AREN'T ANY CURE-ALLS. WE DIDN'T BECOME OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE OVERNIGHT. WE CAN'T REALISTICALLY THINK THAT OVERNIGHT WE ARE GOING TO SOLVE IT."

No one knows yet whether the drug will work on humans. Scientists have to do more research on animals before it can even be tested on people.

Scientists are still pursuing the drug as a possible cancer treatment.

And in a different study, LDS Hospital researchers are trying to unearth a gene they believe is partly responsible for obesity.