I'm becoming increasingly familiar with the concept of "middle-age spread". It seems that the older I get, the tougher it is for me to maintain my weight. Unfortunately, I inherited my mother's penchant for gaining weight, and not my father's leanness, so this appears to be a battle that I'll be fighting for the rest of my life. As battles go, it could be worse. For the most part, I can control my weight- but it's the "control" part that I seem to struggle with. (Sure, I'd LOVE to have one of those two-feet-in-diameter frosted peanut butter cookies.) In that respect, I am hardly unique, and many of us (Larry Simon comes to mind, f'rinstance) have written about fighting our own personal Battle of the Bulge.
Now comes word that there may be a hormone that helps reduce feelings of hunger, thereby reducing food intake by as much as one-third. If this turns out to be the godsend initial reports suggest it might be, it will make Viagra seem like so much snake oil. Resisting the urge to go back through the buffet line for the third time may become just a little bit easier.
Of course, what is unknown are the long-term effects of this hormone. Like most of us, I'm not much on dealing with furry palms, persistent night sweats, visions of God, homicidal hallucinations, or whatever other side effects might result. If researchers can craft a treatment that can assist in weight control without any disturbing or dangerous side effects, watch out. SOMEBODY is going to become VERY wealthy very quickly- and deservedly so.
