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Nutrition
Alli: Dangers In A Diet Pill
Date: 27/07/09
Keywords: Alli, Diabetes, Depression, Immunity, Nutrition, Orlistat, Xenical, Diet, Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Alli is a reduced dosage variation of the prescription drug Orlistat or Xenical. Under-use of the drug will have no meaningful effect, although abuse of the recommended dosage may result in unnecessary and increased digestive discomfort.
The main ingredient of this ‘diet miracle’ is Orlistat, better known as Xenical in the US. If you are a regular reader of our alerts, you will know that we previously wrote about the side effects of Xenical. But with Alli taking the UK by storm and it being the first pharmacy-only weight loss aid licensed throughout Europe, it’s perhaps a good idea to look at the damaging side-effects of this ‘miracle diet pill’...
The pressure is on and with August around the corner and beach holidays looming it is no wonder that I’ve seen a few television ads for Alli – the new over-the-counter ‘miracle diet pill’. And the promise it makes is great: 50 per cent more weight loss than you would through dieting alone...
The main ingredient of this ‘diet miracle’ is Orlistat, better known as Xenical in the US. If you are a regular reader of our alerts, you will know that we previously wrote about the side effects of Xenical. But with Alli taking the UK by storm and it being the first pharmacy-only weight loss aid licensed throughout Europe, it’s perhaps a good idea to look at the damaging side-effects of this ‘miracle diet pill’...
All is not well
Alli is a reduced dosage variation of the prescription drug Orlistat or Xenical. Under-use of the drug will have no meaningful effect, although abuse of the recommended dosage may result in unnecessary and increased digestive discomfort.
Yep, discomfort (to put it mildly) and we’ll add serious health risk.
Treatment effects
It’s rather uncanny that GlaxoSmith and Kline don’t refer to the side effects of the drug but instead use the carefully chosen words: ‘treatment effects’. The reasoning behind this choice of words, they say, is because of the way this drug works.
Plainly put, Alli inhibits or prevents the body from absorbing fat from foods. It just simply blocks fat from entering the digestive system and allows it to pass through unabsorbed. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Even better is one of the treatment effects you will encounter - Irritable Bowel Syndrome-like symptoms.
Over to GlaxoSmith and Kline (GSK): ‘Undigested fat cannot be absorbed and passes through the body naturally... you may recognize it in the toilet as something that looks like the oil on top of a pizza.’ Mmmm charming Glaxo, perhaps we need to point out that fat (mimicking pizza-like-oil) passing through your digestive tract is not natural...
How does this work then? These pills reduce the production of a certain enzyme in the intestine, which converts fatty dietary elements into fatty acids. Without this digestive enzyme, some fat from digested food may not be processed. As a result, the body will find a way to release basic fat content from the body, usually excreted. Due to the nature of the ‘left over’ substances, stools can often appear oily and emit an unfortunate odour.
It is therefore no wonder that the following warning appears on the Alli website: ‘You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work’...
Another means by which the body has been known to release unwanted waste is by flatulence. While this is a totally natural and harmless release, it can prove potentially embarrassing and uncomfortable as the customer may not have full control of their bowels at all times.
To lose or not to lose
You may ask why am I concerned about people wanting to lose weight? Surely, it’s a good thing since Britain has a massive obesity problem (no pun intended).
Usually, if someone wants to go on a healthy regime of having a balanced diet and doing regular exercise in an effort to shed some pounds, I will say: Knock yourself out and good luck!
However if a weight loss drug is put on the market that has the potential threat of causing serious nutritional deficiencies, I start foaming at the mouth a bit. Because it’s one thing to lose weight but a completely different kettle of fish when you induce malnutrition. For these reasons it makes perfect sense that the organisation Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) gave GSK the ‘With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?’ Award for selling a formerly prescription-only weight loss drug over-the-counter, in 2007. At the time Alex Sugerman-Brozan, director of PAL said: “It is extremely irresponsible for GSK to sell Alli as an Over-the-Counter drug. Anyone – including teenagers and people with eating disorders – will be able to walk into a pharmacy and buy this drug.”
Alli not only blocks the ‘bad fat’ from our food, but also all the essential fats that we need to be healthy. These include omega-3 fatty acids (which is why you're hearing about all the benefits of eating oily fish like salmon), fat-soluble vitamins which are vital for good health and immunity, including vitamin E, A, D and K.
A deficiency in vitamin D alone directly promotes a number of serious diseases including diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, breast cancer, prostate cancer and even gum disease. For people who are already overfed and undernourished, taking a fat-blocking pill that will reduce the absorption of vitamin D seems like dietary insanity to me.
Then there is also the fact (like with any other quick-fix) that you only lose weight for as long as you take the drug...
Wrong message
The worst part of this drug is that it may promote further poor nutrition, not just by blocking essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins but also by giving people a license to continue to eat unhealthy foods.
GSK has done an extensive pre-sales marketing campaign, emphasizing the importance of a low-fat diet and exercise with slogans such as “there are no miracle diets”. – Of course these ‘recommendations’ will be ignored by millions of consumers who may wrongfully think that they no longer have to watch what they eat because this little pill absorbs all the bad stuff. They might continue to eat fried foods or unhealthy saturated animal fat products like hamburgers, cheese, milk and lots of fast food products. Their health may continue to suffer even as they think they are protecting themselves.
As Sugerman-Brozan from PAL put it: “A slick marketing campaign about changing eating habits is no substitute for requiring the prescription and supervision of a doctor... This is not aspirin – it is a drug with serious and potentially dangerous side effects and risks, and shouldn’t be available Over-the-Counter.”
In a country where many people are already making poor decisions about their nutrition this pill could pose a very real danger to the long-term health of consumers.
If you choose to use this drug as an aid to losing weight be sure to have a long discussion with your health care provider about steps you can take to ensure that you don’t do more harm than good. Even better, try other routes to improve your health and better your understanding of nutrition and a balanced diet.
Related Reading:
Side Effects of Xenical
Sources:
‘Alli weight loss drug has disgusting side effects and may block fat-soluble vitamins’ by Mike Adams, published online 17.05.06, naturalnews.com
‘Alli Diet Pill: There Are Many Things to Consider Before Taking This Drug’ by Samantha Rufle, published online 02.08.07, nutrition.suite101.com
‘PAL Announces First Bitter Pill Award of 2007 to GlaxoSmithKline: 'With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?’Award’ published online 07.06.07, prescriptionaccess.org
‘How does it Work – Treatment Effects’ published online,myalli.com
‘What to expect’ published online,myalli.com
‘Information on Alli weight loss pills’ published online, allipills.com
‘Diet pill's not Alli it's cracked up to be’ by AMANDA URSEL – Sun Nutritionist, published online, 03.02.09, thesun.co.uk
‘Do Diet Drugs Work? We test Alli and Appesat’ by Kara Gammell and Fiona Macdonald-Smith, published online, 04.05.09, telegraph.co.uk
The main ingredient of this ‘diet miracle’ is Orlistat, better known as Xenical in the US. If you are a regular reader of our alerts, you will know that we previously wrote about the side effects of Xenical. But with Alli taking the UK by storm and it being the first pharmacy-only weight loss aid licensed throughout Europe, it’s perhaps a good idea to look at the damaging side-effects of this ‘miracle diet pill’...
All is not well
Alli is a reduced dosage variation of the prescription drug Orlistat or Xenical. Under-use of the drug will have no meaningful effect, although abuse of the recommended dosage may result in unnecessary and increased digestive discomfort.
Yep, discomfort (to put it mildly) and we’ll add serious health risk.
Treatment effects
It’s rather uncanny that GlaxoSmith and Kline don’t refer to the side effects of the drug but instead use the carefully chosen words: ‘treatment effects’. The reasoning behind this choice of words, they say, is because of the way this drug works.
Plainly put, Alli inhibits or prevents the body from absorbing fat from foods. It just simply blocks fat from entering the digestive system and allows it to pass through unabsorbed. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Even better is one of the treatment effects you will encounter - Irritable Bowel Syndrome-like symptoms.
Over to GlaxoSmith and Kline (GSK): ‘Undigested fat cannot be absorbed and passes through the body naturally... you may recognize it in the toilet as something that looks like the oil on top of a pizza.’ Mmmm charming Glaxo, perhaps we need to point out that fat (mimicking pizza-like-oil) passing through your digestive tract is not natural...
How does this work then? These pills reduce the production of a certain enzyme in the intestine, which converts fatty dietary elements into fatty acids. Without this digestive enzyme, some fat from digested food may not be processed. As a result, the body will find a way to release basic fat content from the body, usually excreted. Due to the nature of the ‘left over’ substances, stools can often appear oily and emit an unfortunate odour.
It is therefore no wonder that the following warning appears on the Alli website: ‘You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work’...
Another means by which the body has been known to release unwanted waste is by flatulence. While this is a totally natural and harmless release, it can prove potentially embarrassing and uncomfortable as the customer may not have full control of their bowels at all times.
To lose or not to lose
You may ask why am I concerned about people wanting to lose weight? Surely, it’s a good thing since Britain has a massive obesity problem (no pun intended).
Usually, if someone wants to go on a healthy regime of having a balanced diet and doing regular exercise in an effort to shed some pounds, I will say: Knock yourself out and good luck!
However if a weight loss drug is put on the market that has the potential threat of causing serious nutritional deficiencies, I start foaming at the mouth a bit. Because it’s one thing to lose weight but a completely different kettle of fish when you induce malnutrition. For these reasons it makes perfect sense that the organisation Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) gave GSK the ‘With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?’ Award for selling a formerly prescription-only weight loss drug over-the-counter, in 2007. At the time Alex Sugerman-Brozan, director of PAL said: “It is extremely irresponsible for GSK to sell Alli as an Over-the-Counter drug. Anyone – including teenagers and people with eating disorders – will be able to walk into a pharmacy and buy this drug.”
Alli not only blocks the ‘bad fat’ from our food, but also all the essential fats that we need to be healthy. These include omega-3 fatty acids (which is why you're hearing about all the benefits of eating oily fish like salmon), fat-soluble vitamins which are vital for good health and immunity, including vitamin E, A, D and K.
A deficiency in vitamin D alone directly promotes a number of serious diseases including diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, breast cancer, prostate cancer and even gum disease. For people who are already overfed and undernourished, taking a fat-blocking pill that will reduce the absorption of vitamin D seems like dietary insanity to me.
Then there is also the fact (like with any other quick-fix) that you only lose weight for as long as you take the drug...
Wrong message
The worst part of this drug is that it may promote further poor nutrition, not just by blocking essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins but also by giving people a license to continue to eat unhealthy foods.
GSK has done an extensive pre-sales marketing campaign, emphasizing the importance of a low-fat diet and exercise with slogans such as “there are no miracle diets”. – Of course these ‘recommendations’ will be ignored by millions of consumers who may wrongfully think that they no longer have to watch what they eat because this little pill absorbs all the bad stuff. They might continue to eat fried foods or unhealthy saturated animal fat products like hamburgers, cheese, milk and lots of fast food products. Their health may continue to suffer even as they think they are protecting themselves.
As Sugerman-Brozan from PAL put it: “A slick marketing campaign about changing eating habits is no substitute for requiring the prescription and supervision of a doctor... This is not aspirin – it is a drug with serious and potentially dangerous side effects and risks, and shouldn’t be available Over-the-Counter.”
In a country where many people are already making poor decisions about their nutrition this pill could pose a very real danger to the long-term health of consumers.
If you choose to use this drug as an aid to losing weight be sure to have a long discussion with your health care provider about steps you can take to ensure that you don’t do more harm than good. Even better, try other routes to improve your health and better your understanding of nutrition and a balanced diet.
Related Reading:
Side Effects of Xenical
Sources:
‘Alli weight loss drug has disgusting side effects and may block fat-soluble vitamins’ by Mike Adams, published online 17.05.06, naturalnews.com
‘Alli Diet Pill: There Are Many Things to Consider Before Taking This Drug’ by Samantha Rufle, published online 02.08.07, nutrition.suite101.com
‘PAL Announces First Bitter Pill Award of 2007 to GlaxoSmithKline: 'With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?’Award’ published online 07.06.07, prescriptionaccess.org
‘How does it Work – Treatment Effects’ published online,myalli.com
‘What to expect’ published online,myalli.com
‘Information on Alli weight loss pills’ published online, allipills.com
‘Diet pill's not Alli it's cracked up to be’ by AMANDA URSEL – Sun Nutritionist, published online, 03.02.09, thesun.co.uk
‘Do Diet Drugs Work? We test Alli and Appesat’ by Kara Gammell and Fiona Macdonald-Smith, published online, 04.05.09, telegraph.co.uk
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