Diet Pills: Reviews

We found no evidence that over-the-counter diet pills can help you lose substantial amounts of weight -- regardless of brand or active ingredient. Some diet pills that contain bitter orange and caffeine may help you shed… a few pounds, but they may also have potentially harmful health effects. Health experts say bitter orange may be just as dangerous as ephedra -- a banned diet drug -- and they recommend avoiding it, especially when it's combined with caffeine. Two other common diet-pill ingredients, acai berries and hoodia, are used in dozens of diet pills, but there's no evidence to show that they actually work. The advocacy group Public Citizen says hoodia diet pills are just "the latest in a string of diet pill scams." Alli, the over-the-counter version of the prescription weight-loss drug Xenical, has also attracted a great deal of attention, but Dr. Donald Hensrud at the Mayo Clinic says you won't lose much more weight than you would with diet and exercise alone. At best, health experts say over-the-counter diet pills are a waste of money; in the worst-case scenario, they may lead to health problems. While we all would like a weight-loss shortcut, it appears that no diet pill can trump old-fashioned diet and exercise.

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Unlike over-the-counter diet pills, prescription weight-loss medications are at least regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and subjected to clinical trials. Phentermine, an appetite suppressant, has been around… the longest, but it has lost popularity in favor of the newest prescription diet pills -- orlistat (Xenical) and sibutramine (Meridia). Both of these diet pills are approved for obese people with a body mass index over 30, or those who have health problems from their weight. Here again, studies show that these pills don't cause dramatic weight loss. In a meta-analysis conducted by The Obesity Society, obese patients who took Xenical for a year lost roughly 6 pounds more than those who took a placebo. That's just half a pound a month. Studies reviewed by Healthfacts, a monthly newsletter published by the Center for Medical Consumers, indicate that those who took Meridia fared slightly better, losing an average of a pound per month. Unfortunately, many patients regain the weight they've lost once they stop taking the medication. So, while prescription diet pills can be a potential option for obese adults in consultation with their doctor, they're far from a magic pill. Some advocacy groups also raise questions about their safety. Public Citizen lists both Meridia and Xenical as "do not use" drugs since they show only limited weight loss and, in their opinion, may lead to health problems.

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