Obesity and Cardiovascular Risk

The increasing prevalence of obesity, its serious health consequences, and the substantial economic burden on healthcare systems underscore a pressing need for effective, long-term prevention strategies that can be implemented in primary care. Emerging evidence suggests that combining lifestyle modification with dietary supplements and pharmacological treatment may enhance and prolong intervention effects, yet comparative long-term data on their individual and combined efficacy are limited. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the independent and additional effects of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention, a mushroom-based dietary supplement, and bupropion treatment over 12 months, to identify more effective and sustainable strategies for obesity prevention in overweight and obese adults.

The OBESIAL (Obesity Structured Intervention in Algeria) study aims to evaluate the clinical, metabolic, and organisational impact of a structured multidisciplinary obesity care pathway implemented under real-world conditions.

Obesity is a chronic disease of global public health concern, contributing to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Currently approved anti-obesity drugs and surgery are expensive and not readily available in Nigeria. Metformin, approved for type 2 diabetes, has been shown to promote weight loss among obese patients in high income countries. However, metformin's effects have not yet been demonstrated in Black African populations, which may have different genetic and environmental predispositions to obesity and to the effect of metformin. This blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial is determining the effect of metformin on weight loss, cardiovascular disease risk and insulin resistance in Black Nigerians.