American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 55, 199S-202S, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

REVIEW ARTICLES

Clinical and basic aspects of an anorexiant, mazindol, as an antiobesity agent in Japan

S Inoue, M Egawa, S Satoh, M Saito, H Suzuki, Y Kumahara, M Abe, A Kumagai, Y Goto and K Shizume
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Yokohama City University, Japan.

The Japanese Mazindol study group investigated the action of an anorexiant, mazindol, and found that it reduced food intake by directly suppressing neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, inhibited gastric acid secretion, increased motor activity, decreased glucose absorption, and inhibited insulin secretion. It thus appears that the main effect of mazindol is to decrease food intake through suppressing feeding centers in the hypothalamus. A multicenter open study of mazindol in Japan revealed that loss of body weight and relative body weight in 14 wk were 4.6 kg and 9.2%, respectively, with suppression of appetite in the majority of obese patients. A multicenter double-blind study demonstrated that mazindol was superior to the placebo in the treatment of simple obesity. We also suggest that mazindol is effective in the maintenance of reduced body weight after obesity therapy and in the treatment of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia.