A new weight-loss injection helped overweight and diabetic patients lose an average of 10lbs (4.4kg) in just four weeks, a study has found.

The jab, which is a mixture of three hormones, mimics the effect of having gastric bypass surgery.

Previous research by Imperial College London suggested that one of the reasons the bypass worked well was because it caused the bowel to release three hormones in higher levels.

The combination, dubbed GOP, reduces appetite, causes weight loss and improves the body’s sugar absorption.

Lead author Tricia Tan, Professor of Practice (Metabolic Medicine & Endocrinology) at ICL and lead author of the study, said: “Although this is a small study, our new combination hormone treatment is promising and has shown significant improvements in patients’ health in only four weeks.

“Compared to other methods the treatment is non-invasive and reduced glucose levels to near-normal levels in our patients.

“This result shows that it is possible to obtain some of the benefits of a gastric bypass operation without undergoing the surgery itself.

“If further trials are successful, in future we could potentially give this type of treatment to many more patients,” she added.

In the study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, ICL scientists gave 15 obese pre-diabetic and diabetic patients GOP, which was slowly injected under the skin for 12 hours a day for four weeks.

They were also given advice on healthy eating and weight loss from a dietitian.

The subjects lost an average of 10lbs (4.4kg), nearly twice as much as 11 others given a salt water placebo, who shed an average of 5.5lbs (2.5kg).

Unlike gastric bypass surgery, which can cause abdominal pain, chronic nausea, vomiting and debilitating low blood sugar levels, the jab comes with no side effects.

Some of the patients’ blood glucose fell to near-normal levels, a particularly significant finding for the treatment of diabetes.

Around one in four British adults is obese, with some having a gastric bypass to keep their weight down and improve blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Patients who had bariatric surgery also improved their blood glucose, but levels were much more variable, leaving them vulnerable to low blood glucose levels.

The University of Copenhagen and University College Dublin collaborated in the research, which was trialled at Hammersmith Hospital in London.

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