The Dangers of Diet Pills

With so many Americans being overweight, its easy to see why the weight-loss industry has skyrocketed. Companies are making millions of dollars off of diet pills and supplements, and overweight people are not losing weight as much as they are damaging their health.

Unfortunately, millions of overweight people have taken dangerous weight loss supplements. People see the bottles that say they’ll get more energy, an increased metabolism, will lose 20 pounds in two weeks, etc. Most of these people do not do any outside research or consult a doctor about the ingredients in these pills. Had they done their research, they would see that these “all natural” and “all herbal” pills contain ingredients similar to amphetaines such as speed.

The most well-known diet pill ingredient ephedrine has been linked with over 100 deaths. the most well-known being Steve Bechler, the baseball player who died after taking 3 Xenadrine pills (you can read the CBS article here). Ephedrine was banned by the FDA a few years ago.

Over the counter weight loss pills do not need to be approved or examined by the FDA at all. Today, the only FDA regulation associated with weight loss pills is the removal of ephedrine. However, when many companies reformulated their weight loss pills, the “ephedra-free” pills still had ephedra-like effects like increased heart rate and hypertension. Other companies added more caffeine to their pills, which causes the body to release more stress hormones and can lead to anxiety and heart palpitations.

People have reported many serious side effects of diet pills, but still continue to take them. Some side effects reported are:

• Anxiety
• Diarrhea
• High blood pressure
• Strokes
• Brain Damage
• Chest pain
• Fever
• Impotence
• Heart damage
• Depression
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Heart palpitations
• Heart attack
• Vomiting
• Dizziness
• Hair loss

There are a few diet pills now offered as prescriptions such as Xenical, Meridia, and Bontril. They are approved and regulated by the FDA, so they have to be tested extensively to accurately capture the side effects. The prescription pills are usually only given to obese people because while they do have some side effects, they are not as serious as the effects that obesity has on the body.

Remember also that if you want to lose weight, you will need to make some changes to your lifestyle and eating habits. Taking a weight loss supplement may help you lose weight, but if you continue to eat too many calories, you will just gain the weight back again. It’ll be much better for your long term health to pass by the weight-loss pill aisle and get to the gym and start eating healthier. This method may result in slower weight loss, but it will also result in longer term weight loss.