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| Diet Pills in The News! |
Health concerns and
desire to look attractive are two major factors that are
driving the weight loss industry. Some people are
tempted to use OTC medications and weight loss pills to
achieve fast results. It should be realized that there
is no magic formula or magic wand for losing weight.
Healthy eating, low-calorie foods and regular physical
activity are the effective ways to lose weight and keep
it off.
Remember that even if you take weight loss pills it will
be necessary to consume low calorie diet. Also remember
that taking pills forever for controlling weight is
neither practical nor safe.
Here we shall look at some of the popular weight loss
pills presently in the news:
Clenbuterol
Alli
Xenical
Ephedra
Ma Huang
Bitter orange
Hoodia
• Clenbuterol
This drug has been in the news recently under its
nickname Size Zero Pill or Size 0 pill. It has earned
the nickname because of the extremely undernourished and
starved look of some of the fashion icons in Hollywood
who have been using this pill. This drug is not meant
for human consumption; it is a FDA approved drug for
treatment of horses. This drug increases heart rate and
body temperature thus help burn fat; it suppresses
appetite for as long as nine hours after its
consumption. It is an extremely unsafe drug.
• Alli
Alli is not a medicine; it is a fat burner or fat
blocker. It is a FDA approved OTC weight reduction
product. Weight gain is caused by excess calorie intake,
and consumption of fat is the main cause of excess
calorie intake, Alli blocks about 25 % of the fat
consumed from being digested; the undigested fat passes
through the body in the natural way. Since the fat is
prevented from being digested, Alli is effective in
weight loss.
When you use Alli you are required to limit your meals
to 15 gms of fat each, failing which you are likely to
have extremely unpleasant side reactions such as bowel
movements, loose stools, very frequent visits to “loo”,
“farting” with oily discharge, etc.
Since even a popular burger exceeds Alli’s limit of
permissible fat content, it is a serious limitation the
dieter has to contend with.
• Xenical
Alli and Xenical are similar; their composition is the
same so their limitations and usefulness (!) will be
similar.
• Ephedra
Ephedra (ephedrine alkaloid) used in dietary supplements
suppresses the appetite. Many popular products used for
weight control were found to be using Ephedra at one
time. However, it has now been totally banned due to
safety concerns. In spite of the ban many ephedra
products are still sold on the Internet.
Many athletes considered Ephedrine as a
performance-enhancing drug. Due to safety concerns it
has been prohibited in most competitive sports.
• Ma Huang
This is the Chinese name for Ephedra. It also has been
banned in USA.
• Bitter Orange
This non-prescription OTC product is claimed to
increases the number of calories burned and thus help
weight loss. It is being sold as a substitute for
Ephedra. It may also cause health problems as Ephedra
does. Its long term effects are not known.
• Hoodia
This is an extract from a cactus-like succulent plant
from deserts of South Africa. It is being sold as
natural appetite suppressant. This has not been
evaluated for safety, effectiveness, or purity by the
FDA and it is a potentially risky product for weight
loss.
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