Many of the available weight loss medications are very expensive and millions of people do pay that price.
As obesity is increasingly viewed as a clinical condition, more doctors are prescribing weight loss medications, and one of them has even become available over-the counter and is available from the giant discount stores. Let's take a look at the basic mechanisms used by weight loss medications:
#1: Many Weight Loss Products Work by Interfering with Your Absorption of Nutrients
Weight Loss medications like Xenical and Alli (available over-the-counter) contain Orlistat, which works by inhibiting the enzymes in intestine that break down triglycerides. When the enzyme function is blocked, fats in the diet are not processed and are excreted instead. In actuality, about 25-30% of dietary fat is prevented from being absorbed, depending on whether you take the over-the-counter or prescription dose of these weight loss medications.
#2: Appetite Suppression is the Second Type of Weight Loss Treatment
Known as anorectics, this class of drugs also act as stimulants and are often abused for the stimulant and "focus" effects they can produce. The idea is to make you not feel hungry, so not want to eat.
Aside from the fact that eating is how you fuel your body, which gives you the energy you need to function, many destructive side-effects have been associated with this type of weight loss medications, including heart failure.
More recently developed products of this type target brain chemistry as a means of suppressing appetite by increasing noradrenaline and serotonin levels.
#3: Weight Loss Medications may also be Designed to Increase Metabolism
Many products aimed at weight loss are supposed to increase thermogenesis, or the production of heat in organisms. The idea is to increase the metabolism, which increases the body's core temperature.
Substances that produce this effect can be ginger and caffeine, but can also be as extreme as ephedra, which has such serious
health effects that it has caused deaths. While caffeine is commonly included in diet drugs, it is obviously not extremely effective, whereas ephedra has been banned from sale in the US.
Each of the approaches attempted by weight loss medications have dangers and should be considered very seriously before taking such a risk.
Obesity is a health hazard, but there are ways to work with it, without compromising your health further.
Weight loss really boils down to finding a healthy eating and exercise program that works for you. The seriously obese need a serious approach, but it need not be one that places them at further risk.