Antiobesity Medications Complement Lifestyle Change in Chronic Weight Management

I like to think of these newer antiobesity medications and of bariatric surgery as complementing lifestyle changes, like adopting healthy eating patterns and increasing physical activity, said Caroline Apovian, MD, in a recent conversation with Patient Care.®

Apovian, an internationally recognized obesity expert and researcher and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, reminds clinicians that the antiobesity medications, ie, the GLP-1 receptor agonists, work at the gut hormone level, altering the milieu in the same way that bariatric surgery does. Part of the outcome is that hunger signals are modified, making it easier to reduce caloric intake without the risk of activating the body's rebound effort to protect its energy stores.

She offers more details on the dovetail between antiobesity medications and lifestyle in the following video.

Caroline M Apovian, MD, is a professor of medicine a Harvard Medical School and codirector of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and hypertension at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Apovian is one of the founding creators of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, the body that provides certification and recognititon for physicains who have specialized knowledge and training in the practice of obesity medicine.