Pill 'could offer obesity cure'

Obesity has become a major health problem

Obese people could one day be able to shed their excess pounds without having to change their diet.

British scientists are trying to develop a pill that could treat obesity without the slimmer having to cut down on what they eat.

The team at Aston University in Birmingham are looking at the role of a protein, called zinc alpha 2 glycoprotein (ZAG).

This protein appears to promote weight loss irrespective of food intake.

ZAG, a soluble protein, is present in most body fluids and in most normal tissues of the body.

It is also involved in a process called cachexia - the weight loss that happens in some cancer patients. This can lead to cancer patients losing 85% of their body fat.

Our long-term plan is to develop a suitable delivery method, perhaps a tablet, that will enable us to turn ZAG protein into a commercial treatment for obesity Professor Mike Tisdale

Professor Mike Tisdale believes the protein can be used to fight obesity and is trying to turn the protein into a drug.

If successful, the drug could also one day help people with diabetes because ZAG can lower blood sugar levels.

The research is still in its early stages. But Professor Tisdale is confident the work will lead to a new treatment for obesity.

"We are a little way off a clinical trial now and our long-term plan is to develop a suitable delivery method, perhaps a tablet, that will enable us to turn ZAG protein into a commercial treatment for obesity," he said.

Obesity is becoming a major health problem in many western countries, including Britain.

An estimated 30,000 die people die prematurely from obesity-related conditions every year in the UK. One in five men and one in four women is now obese.