With obesity becoming more and more of a problem worldwide, some 1 billion of the entire world population has recently been classified as obese, or at least overweight, by a World Health Organization report. Out of these people, most of them are in the developed world, with the majority in the United States. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that some 65 percent of all adults aged above 20 are overweight.
 

In the upper layers of the population, that is to say, in men aged 40 to 59, the incidence of obesity was much higher, at about four fifths of those analyzed by the study showing signs of the disease. These statistics are and should be frightening for people who are eating the wrong way. Dietitians say there is little they can do if the population continues to consume unhealthy food in such extremely large quantities.
 

Doctors, however, identified a new antibody that inhibits the actions of the gastric hormone ghrelin. This hormone seems to be directly responsible for the way in which human metabolism acts and stores fats inside cells, for later use. The new antibody is called catalyst GHR-11E11, and it has already been proven to have promising effects in fasting mice, by forcing their metabolic systems to work overtime and removing the hunger sensation from their brains.

 
"Our study showed that this novel catalytic ghrelin antibody could specifically seek out and degrade ghrelin. While this antibody lacks a high level of catalytic efficiency, our study clearly demonstrates that even a basal level of catalysis can effectively modulate feeding behavior. These findings not only validate antibody-based therapeutics, but strongly suggest that catalytic anti-ghrelin antibodies might help patients reach and maintain their weight loss goals," said Scripps researcher and lead investigator of the new study, Kim Janda.

 
He is also a chemistry professor and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and, working in collaboration with researcher Eric P. Zorrilla, co-author of the study, the scientist learned that any treatments based solely on antibody-therapies cannot give satisfying results on their own. Patients suffering from obesity should also receive other forms of medication, as well as psychological advice and clear indication to work out at least once a week.