North American Association for the Study of Obesity annual meeting

The annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity was held in Long Beach, CA, USA with approximately 1500 attendees, including basic and clinical obesity/food intake researchers and local and regional physicians. The meeting highlighted a clear trend toward pharmacological approaches directed at the brain control of obesity/food intake/energy expenditure as well as combinations of therapies, eg, drug and dietary, two drugs, drug and behavioral change. The magnitude of the body weight losses in the human studies was typically 5 to 15% of starting weight, which was recognized as unsatisfactory. Examples of new developments included attempts to block receptors of accepted neuropeptides involved in food intake and energy expenditure, such as the neuropeptide Y (NPY) 5 receptor, documentation of the ability of current drugs used to treat other disorders that also decrease body weight/food intake, such as the antidepressant drug bupropion SR and the anti-epileptic agent topiramate, as well as development of new peptide receptor agonists, such as A-200, a modified human recombinant leptin preparation. Recognition of dietary supplements and over-the-counter medications as potential obesity promoting triggers, such as melatonin were also presented.