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Could a medication make obesity healthier?
With 78 million American adults in the obese column and showing slim chances of permanently dieting their way out of it, one way of mitigating the public health disaster to come would be to unhook the wagonload of obesity-related ills — most notably Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease — from obesity itself. In this scenario, a person could remain heavy, but take a medication or follow some regimen that drives down his or her risk of developing the metabolic dysfunction, the high blood pressure, worrisome cholesterol readings, fatty liver and inflammation that so often come with obesity.
By Melissa Healy
September 3, 2013