The Fda Restricts Certain Over-the-counter Weight Loss Pill Products

Certainly the accessible of over-the-counter weight loss pills at health food store

, pharmacies, and other stores is tempting if you are looking to lose weight. At first glance it's appears to be an easy option particularly if just restricting your calorie intact isn't doing the job quickly or you have hit a diet plateau. Buying weight loss pills doesn't require seeing a doctor, or having a prescription. A variety of over-the-counter pill manufactures sell their weight loss products in numerous stores including the local drugstore, supermarket, or health food store. Most dietary supplements and weight-loss aids, including over-the-counter pills, aren't subject to the same rigorous standards as are prescription drugs. Non-prescription weight or health products can be sold with limited proof of effectiveness or safety. Since there is definitely money to be made, companies do just about anything to make the consumer feel at-ease enough to purchase and use their numerous products.

In addition, with the proliferation of the word "natural" added to just about any product label with an implicit understanding that what is "natural" must be healthy, consumers are duped into thinking that all "natural" weight loss pill supplements are ok. Unfortunately that is an erroneous assumption as history shows. In 2004 in response to accumulating evidence of adverse effects and deaths related to ephedra, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) banned the sale of supplements containing ephedra and other ephedrine-like ingredients. The ban was challenged by the manufacturers making pill and liquid supplements that used ephedrine-like ingredients and the courts overturned the initially verdict. Ultimately in 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the original decision banning ephedra from weight related products.

Moving ahead to 2009, the FDA determines that dozens of weight-loss supplements, most of them imported from China, contain hidden and/ or potentially harmful drugs. One example is StarCaps, a weight loss pill / capsule, that was promoted as a natural dietary supplements using papaya and touted by a number of well known sports and television personalities including Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons and Today" show host Kathie Lee Gifford. Once the agency found the capsules also contained a potent pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide, the FDA cited the product as being in violation of the law. Because bumetanide can cause serious side effects, it is very important that its presence be noted on a product's label.

More recently in the spring of 2012 another warning was release by the Food and Drug Administration. This time it is was regarding a weight loss pill called "Japan Rapid Weight Loss Diet Pills." The pills come in three different colors. An FDA lab analysis has confirmed that the green version of the pills contained "undeclared phenolphthalein," while undeclared phenolphthalein and sibutramine were found in their yellow pills. Sibutramine is a weight loss agent originally used in the drug Meridia that was removed from the market in 2010 because it increased the risk of heart attacks. In the Japan Rapid Weight Loss Diet Pills blue pills, there were undeclared amounts of sibutramine and ephedrine alkaloids. It seems shocking and quite unsettling because the emerging trend, according to the FDA, is of companies selling products purporting to be dietary supplements with a list of declared ingredients on their labels, but in truth also contain hidden ingredients that can be harmful. This is particularly true among over-the-counter weight loss pill supplements. Buyers beware!

Do not be mistaken in thinking over-the-counter weight loss supplements are the easy answer to weight loss. A program that is doctor supervised, helps you reach your weight loss goals, and then provides the means to maintain a long-term, healthy life style is a far superior choice in the long run.

by: Deborah Dillen

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