A six month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of weekly exenatide in adolescents with obesity

in Pediatric Obesity (2020)

Background: Pharmacological treatment options for adolescents with obesity are very limited. Glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor-agonist could be a treatment option for adolescent obesity. Objective ... [more ▼]

Background: Pharmacological treatment options for adolescents with obesity are very limited. Glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor-agonist could be a treatment option for adolescent obesity. Objective: To investigate the effect of exenatide extended-release on body-mass-index (BMI)- SDS as primary outcome, and glucose-metabolism, cardiometabolic risk factors liver steatosis, and other BMI metrics as secondary outcomes, and its safety and tolerability in adolescents with obesity. Methods: Six-months, randomized, double-blinded, parallel, placebo-controlled clinical trial in patients (n=44, 10-18 years, females n=22) with BMI-SDS>2.0 or age-adapted-BMI>30 kg/m² according to WHO were included. Patients received lifestyle intervention and were randomized to exenatide extended-release 2 mg (n=22) or placebo (n=22) sub-cutaneousinjections given once weekly. Oral-glucose-tolerance-tests (OGTT) were conducted at the beginning and end of the intervention. Results: Exenatide reduced (p<0.05) BMI-SDS (-0.09; -0.18, 0.00), % BMI 95th percentile (- 2.9%; -5.4, -0.3), weight (-3 kg; -5.8, -0.1), waist circumference (-3.2 cm; -5.8, -0.7), subcutaneous adipose tissue (-552 cm3; -989, -114), 2-hour-glucose during OGTT (-15.3 mg/dL; -27.5, -3.1), total cholesterol (11.6 mg/dL; -21.7, -1.5) and BMI (-0.83 kg/m²; -1.68, 0.01) without significant change in liver fat content (-1.36; -3.12, 0.4; p=0.06) in comparison to placebo. Safety and tolerability profiles were comparable to placebo with the exception of mild adverse events being more frequent in exenatide-treated patients. Conclusions: Treatment of adolescents with severe obesity with extended-release exenatide is generally well tolerated and leads to a modest reduction in BMI metrics and improvement in glucose tolerance and cholesterol. The study indicates that the treatment provides additional beneficial effects beyond BMI-reduction for the patient group. [less ▲]

Evaluating Food Front-of-Pack Labelling: a pan-European Survey on Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Food Labelling

in International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition (2014), 65(2), 177-186

Nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods have been widely used as a medium to foster healthier eating habits in the general population, to contribute to a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of diet ... [more ▼]

Nutrition labels on pre-packaged foods have been widely used as a medium to foster healthier eating habits in the general population, to contribute to a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of diet-related conditions. Yet, there is no convincing evidence that food labels are an effective means to achieve the desired effect at population level. Several factors have been suggested to account for this decoupling of efficacy, e.g. difficulties in understanding the information on food-labels. The present paper presents the results of a survey on Europeans’ understanding of nutritional labels and evaluation on the communication tools for their diffusion. A total of 7550 phone interviews were conducted in 16 European Countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and Hungary. Consumers were asked about their opinion on nutritional information provided at different levels and their commitment to healthy behaviour. [less ▲]