Within the
pharmaceutical industry, obesity is currently seen as the "trillion
money disease". That's the estimated amount of revenue a successful
weight loss drug can expect to make. But are companies getting close to
delivering a diet pill that really works - substance, a pill that is
both safe in addition to effective at solving obesity? The response, it
seems, is No.
Pills To Reduce Obesity
It's true that the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a tiny number of weight
loss pills like Xenical and Meridia pertaining to long term use in the
management of obesity (BMI > 30). But evidence accumulated in
clinical tests suggests that the effectiveness of these types of obesity
drugs is less than remarkable. Total annual weight reduction tends to
be in your range 8-20 pounds. Furthermore, the highest weight loss tends
to be achieved by individuals who participate in supervised trials
including a combination of drug treatment, diet, physical exertion and
counseling. Which makes it tough to ascertain the precise effect of your
medication itself. By comparison, less properly supervised obesity drug
trials tend to have a higher drop-out rate and reduced weight loss. And
the longer the trial, the reduced the compliance and the lower the
weight loss. In short, while helpful to some patients, weight loss drugs
are not yet the answer to obesity, especially when factors like cost
are taken into account.
Should we be surprised? Not definitely.
After all, even bariatric surgery is not any guarantee of long term
weight loss unless patients comply with the needed post-operative
dietary regimen. Indeed, approximately obesity experts claim that
medical interventions like drugs and surgery are practically by
definition doomed to failure, for your simple reason that they take
manage and responsibility away from patients. In accordance with this
view, it is only any time patients accept full responsibility for bad
eating habits and lifestyle, that they have a real chance of achieving a
normal weight in the long term.
Unfortunately, this view
satisfies no a single! It doesn't satisfy the pharmaceutical companies,
who need to make money. It doesn't satisfy doctors, who need to offer
hope to their overweight patients, and yes it doesn't satisfy consumers
who want clamant weight loss without having to change their eating
habits. In short, there is an overwhelming demand on an obesity pill,
but a viable product has yet to come through.
Pills For Cosmetic Weight Loss
Demand
for diet pills is not necessarily limited to those suffering from
medical obesity. Millions of consumers with lower than 40 pounds to lose
take non-prescription pills to burn off body extra fat or increase
their rate of weight loss. According to a study conducted by the
University associated with Michigan, almost 25 percent of girl students
turn in order to anorectic diet pills when they're trying to lose
weight, including laxatives and diuretics.
These
non-prescription pills are more difficult to examine, as they are not
subject for the same high level of regulation as prescription-only
drugs. Thus not all materials need to be tested, dosages along with
labeling requirements are less stringent, in addition to reporting of
"adverse events" or health problems is not really mandatory.
Furthermore, few long term clinical trials are conducted on
non-prescription pills, so hard evidence as to their safety along with
efficacy is scarce. Meantime, the enormous profits to be made from most
of these weight loss products means they can be based on expensive
advertising campaigns to increase client acceptance, making regulation
and control a lot more of an uphill struggle. Indeed, the actual FDA has
found it almost inconceivable to ban over-the-counter slimming
capsules, even after reports of illness as well as injury.
Herbal Diet Pills For "Healthy Having"
The
past five years has observed a huge rise in sales of herbal diet pills,
which are marketed as a form of "healthy eating". These herbal
supplements typically include a variable combination of vitamins and
other active ingredients which allegedly offer a healthier type of
weight loss. Such claims are not generally backed up by clinical
evidence, and some suppliers are under investigation by both the FDA and
FTC. Nevertheless, rising demand for these types of herbal weight loss
pills is yet another confirmation of our huge appetite for what is
fundamentally a non-dietary approach to weight control.
How Do Weight Loss Pills Work?
In
simple terms, weight loss pills are designed either to adjust body
chemistry in order to decrease appetite, or to interfere with digestive
function in order to reduce calorie ingestion. Appetite suppressants
include amphetamine-like stimulant drugs such as ephedra, or pills to
raise serotonin or norepinephrine levels in the brain. Pills that
interfere with the digestive system include fat-blockers (lipase
inhibitors) including Xenical and chitosan, carb-blockers, and extremely
high fiber bulking agents such while glucomannan.
Are Weight Loss Pills Safe?
Obesity
drugs are generally safe when used correctly and under medical
supervising. The trouble starts when users don't follow the
manufacturer's instructions. Adverse health events for these
pharmaceuticals include heart or blood pressure level problems and
strokes, as well a range of less serious complaints. The similar applies
to non-prescription diet pills, whose adverse health outcomes include
high blood pressure, heart shivers, irregular heartbeats, dizziness,
blurred vision, headaches, insomnia, intestinal blockages, anxiety and
despression symptoms. In extreme cases, both prescription-only and
non-prescription pills can cause life-threatening circumstances. Even
so, safety remains a relative concept. Cigarettes, alcohol, cars in
addition to stress kill millions of people on a yearly basis. By
comparison with these things, diet pills cause far fewer "casualties",
if you consult your doctor before taking them, you can reduce the well
being risk to a minimum.
The Real Problem With Weight Loss Pills
The
biggest problem about relying along drugs and supplements to lose
weight is not health, it's reliability. In my 20-odd years of dealing
with over weight individuals and their families, I haven't yet hear of
anyone who achieved and maintained any significant weight loss by using
pills. But I possess met a huge number of people whose weight and
emotional state of mind had been significantly worsened through the use
involving pills. They were afraid of food, they had absolutely no
confidence into their ability to make sensible food choices, and tended
to rely along purging, laxatives and similar products to manipulate
their eating habits. One client - a former annual weight loss winner
with one of the important dieting companies - had been fed by choice
with pills in order to reach the weight reduction that the organization
required. Any time she came to me for guide, she had regained 70 pounds
of her original weight loss. In short, relying on pills for weight
control can mess up your body and your mind.
The Small Print Says It All
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and infomercials for diet pills are dominated by headlines like:
"Casual Weight Loss" or "Lose Weight While You Sleep!" and so on. But
the contract details often tells a different story - either that users
should follow a calorie-controlled diet, or only erode certain times of
the day, as well as stop eating certain high-calorie ingredients, or
some combination of all iii. There may also be a reference to the need
for exercising. In other words, if you need the truth about a weight
loss pill, check the small print. Mainly because, as all obesity experts
and dietitians will tell you, no long-term reduction in weight is
possible without controlling energy inhalation and expenditure.
If You Must Take Pills
Whether
you are a diet pill addict, or just a good intermittent user, here are
two ways to create weight loss easier. Look for a healthy, gimmick-free
diet, and follow it as very carefully as you can. In the process, focus
on healthy eating rather as compared to calorie reduction. Aiming to eat
sensibly is much more positive than gram calorie control. Secondly,
join an online sticking to your diet forum and get encouragement and
guidance from other people. Because all online surveys show that losing
weight is a lot easier when you have other folks to lean on. My own
forum for instance includes a large number of former diet tablet users
who are now enjoying their particular food and losing significant
amounts of weight in the process. Which proves any time it comes to
weight control, people power is much more appropriate than popping
pills.
