Body Fat Reduced for Users in Diet Pill Study

by KYW medical editor Dr. Brian McDonough

There's excitement about a new weight loss medication called Lorcaserin.

It's gotten a great deal of attention because of a successful study done with 3,100 obese or overweight people who were given the drug or given a sugar pill. Researchers found that those given the drug did quite well.

After a year, nearly 48-percent of the people in the Lorcaserin group had lost five percent of their body weight.  That's about 13 pounds, on average. Just 20-percent of the placebo group lost that much weight.

Of course, a great deal of research needs to be done to follow up on this. Remember, the history of diet medications is sketchy at best -- many have had serious side effects even after they've been approved -- but it's still good news that research is being done, and there may be some potential.