"I have taken this drug off and on for the past 10 years for weight loss. It works, but the results NEVER last, it makes you feel great for about 6 months, you loose weight, (sic) you have awesome energy to work out and then it begins to not work anymore. Its like you build up an immunity to it or something."
The comment is about phentermine (Fastin, Adipex, Ionamin), half of a new drug under consideration by the FDA, but it could apply to all the diet drugs. Thanks to human's "thrifty gene," diet drugs work until they don't work, say scientists. When the body senses it's losing its adipose stores, it actually changes the metabolic rules to retain saddlebags and love handles. Thanks for that.
So, even though two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight and a third obese, few drugs have been able to make a dent in our gross national product; they've proved ineffective or dangerous or ineffective and dangerous.
Fen Phen was withdrawn thirteen years ago for killing at least 120 people...and didn't even work that well, people say.
Meridia, one of the few diet drugs currently on the market, got a heart attack and stroke warning from the FDA earlier this year...and only works with diet and exercise anyway, users say. Both sound like the joke about the restaurant that had such bad food...and such small portions.
And let's not even talk about Alli and Xenical which, by blocking the body's absorption of fat, cause "oily bowels" and "anal leakage" -- "With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?" and "Free coupon for Depends" say comics -- yet caused no more weight loss than placebo. (The FDA just added a "severe liver injury" warning, too.)
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