The Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale of alli for weight loss. This product is orlistat. It is like the prescription drug Xenical, only at half the dose.

Orlistat (alli) works along with a low-calorie and low fat diet. Exercise is also necessary. Orlistat (alli) works in the digestive tract by partially blocking the absorption of fat. This causes the fat, up to 25%,  to pass thru the body. This 25% will not be digested. As will all products, there are the bad effects along with the good.

Vitamins A,E,and K are fat soluble and are not absorbed by the body. It then becomes necessary to replace these vitamins with daily multivitamins. It is recommended that the vitamins be taken at bedtime, or two hours before or 2 hours after you take the orlistat.
These products, alli and Xenical are not for everyone trying to lose weight. If you have trouble absorbing food, you are pregnant or nursing, or diabetic, make sure you consult your doctor. This drug would probably not be for you.

Some medications are affected by this drug. It interferes with absorption. (For example Coumadin and cyclosporine.) If your weight problem is more than 30 pounds, this drug is not for you.

During clinical trials, about 50% of the participants taking 3 pills a day, one at each meal, lost an average of 5.7 pounds. But, after stopping the drug, the weight returned.

The side effects are another story: extra bowel movements, gas, oily discharge, oily stools, oily spotting, inability to control your bowel movements. 50% of the people in the trials had side effects, and 7% of the people lost control of their bowel movements. Some people can get an allergic reaction. Signs of allergy are itching, hives, swelling, chest pain, and breathing problems.

Is taking this medicine worth it?  You decide!

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 10:02 am and is filed under Dermathol Health Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.