A new Canadian study suggests that individuals who take anti-depressants and/or anti-psychotics and participate in a weight management program can lose weight whether or not they take psychiatric medications, according to a report published online today in Obesity , the flagship journal of The Obesity Society. The study is the first to examine weight loss outcomes in individuals taking anti-depressants or anti-psychotics alone, in combination or not at all.
“The results of this study are relevant not only to the healthcare professionals providing care to those who have both excess weight and mental illness, but also to the patients who experience these comorbidities themselves,” said Rebecca Christensen, a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Canada. Christensen served as the study’s lead and corresponding author.
[cynical mode] Any excuse to not produce meds with a better side effect profile? Instead blame the patient for his/her lack of exercise [cynical mode off] .