Pills & Supplements

Is it safe to use diet pills or herbal supplements when trying to lose weight?

     The fastest growing segment of the weight loss industry is over-the-counter weight loss supplements. Since 1997, sales of diet pills and related supplements have been increasing 10 to 20 percent annually to the point where last year they reached $2 billion.

     There are many types of diet pills and herbal, or natural, supplements that you can buy over-the-counter at a drug or discount store, or on-line. You can't assume that a product that is called "natural" or "herbal" is safe. It may also hurt you if you are on other medications. It is best to always check with your doctor before using any herbal or natural weight-loss products.

     Diet pills you can buy over-the-counter don't make much of a difference in how much weight you lose, how fast you lose it, or how long you keep the weight off. Some diet pills can raise your blood pressure. Also, cough or cold medicines often have the same drug used in diet pills. If you take both products together, you may get too much of the same drug and have harmful side effects. For some people, diet pills prescribed by a doctor can be helpful. If you do use these, be sure to follow your doctor's directions.

     The biggest sellers on the market these days continue to be products based on ephedra. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), as many as 3 billion servings of ephedra are sold each year in the United States. In 1997, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed the weight-loss drug called Fen-Phen (fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine) from the market because this drug was found to cause heart valve disease. Today, there are weight loss products containing herbal fen-phen, which do not contain fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine, on the market. These products, not regulated by the FDA, often contain ephedra and have caused side effects in people using them. Always talk with your health care provider before taking any over-the-counter weight loss product, even it if is herbal or "natural."

Remember these facts when thinking about using Weight Loss Supplements:

* Not all OTC Weight Loss Pills are Safe: Many consumers assume that OTC weight loss pills have met some type of basic safety or efficacy standards before hitting the marketplace. However, inspection is limited.

* Not all OTC Weight Loss Pills are Effective: According to the GAO, little is known about whether OTC weight loss supplements are effective. Studies have been conducted using specific ingredients found in many diet products, but most such studies were brief, exposed small groups of individuals, or adopted study approaches that limited the value of their findings.

* Labels on OTC Weight Loss Pills are Not Always Accurate: It is not uncommon to find that amounts of a weight-loss product's active ingredients do not match what's been reported on the label. GAO investigators cited one ephedra study that found concentrations in one diet supplement were more than 50 percent higher than labelled. That is why it is extremely important to only use pills that have been approved as safe by a competent authority.

* OTC Weight Loss Pills May Contain Unlisted Ingredients: Another finding was that weight loss pills sometimes contained ingredients not listed in the packaging. Earlier this year, the International Olympic Committee found that of 634 nutrition products that it analyzed, 15 percent contained ingredients banned by the committee and not listed on the label.

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