Why Cant We Stay Slim?

Dr. Leonard Firestone, CEO of Manhattan Pharmaceuticals Explains why.

(PRWEB) September 23, 2004 -- Most Americans would admit to wanting to shed a few pounds... so why do we find it so difficult over the years to maintain a desirable waistline? The answer, according to Dr. Leonard Firestone, CEO of Manhattan Pharmaceuticals, lies in the nature of appetite regulation, and the complex cocktail of biological cues that seems to compel us to down that granola bar -- or super-size fries.

Food, Food Everywhere

Modern society presents plenty of opportunities to consume calories -- the mid-day pick-me-up" candy bar, the friendly end-of-day cocktail, the celebratory slice of cake -- and fewer and fewer opportunities to work them off. Experts agree that our sedentary lifestyle is also responsible for the rise in overweight and obese Americans, which the American Medical Association estimates now accounts for fully two-thirds of the population. Food is at the heart of most social occasions, like holidays and family celebrations, and even business events, making it even harder to self-regulate consumption.

Eating, But Never Feeling Full

And its more than just the quantity of what were eating; its the quality. Processed foods often contain highly concentrated caloric loads, but insufficient bulk to trigger the feeling of fullness" that provides a signal to stop eating. Concentrated calories also produce a spike in insulin secretion, intensifying the craving for food.

Bodies Designed for Famine, Not Feast

The human body evolved to handle a sustained activity level and to endure long stretches of famine," explains Dr. Firestone, not protect us from the abundance of food and lack of exertion that modern living affords." Our many regulatory mechanisms are designed to store consumed calories for use on a rainy day," presenting an obstacle to weight control so deeply rooted in our own biology, that basic lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) usually cant address the issue alone. Thus the very latest research programs aim to exploit some of the bodys own, natural appetite suppressants. For example, Manhattan Pharmaceuticals has discovered one of these, Oleoyl estrone (OE), and found in their laboratory that administering additional OE strongly inhibits the craving for calories.

We agree with obesity specialists," Dr. Firestone observes, that when conventional diet and exercise regimens fail to produce the desired results, a pharmaceutical is needed to reach the goal line. Among these, we think it most likely that a natural appetite suppressant, OE for example, will prove to be safest and most effective."

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