Most dieters who take medications for prescription weight loss lose only a fraction of weight they want to lose, and many do not get the drugs, a review of the search shows.
When the results of 30 trials were analyzed, long-term users of three widely prescribed weight loss drugs lost an average of 6 to 11 pounds over one to four years.
Between 30% and 40% of the participants stopped taking drugs before the rehearsals end.
Xenical drug users, meridia and non-approved accompany drug lost more weight than dieters taking placebos.
They were also more likely to lose 5% to 10% of their body weight - a recognized amount to reduce the severity of obesity-related risks such as diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related health problems.
But Raj Padwal, MD, from the University of Alberta, says most people who take weight loss drugs expect much more weight than studies suggest they do.
"People tend to be disappointed with the degree of weight loss they reach with these drugs, even when they know that modest weight loss will improve their health," he says. "People who are desperate to lose weight are usually willing to try drugs, but if they do not see the results they desire in two or three months, they do not usually stay in them."
Gym Workout For Weight Loss Plan - Modest Results From Weight Loss Drugs
The tests included in the analysis last a year or more, with the last last two years. A study comparing Xenical to Placebo followed patients for four years.
All study participants were obese, with average weights in studies ranging from 192 pounds to 231 pounds.
Sixteen of the xenical compared tests for placebo, 10 did the same with the meridia, and four followed the patients taking ACPLIA.
Xenical use was associated with an average loss of 6 pounds throughout the studies, while Meridia users have lost an average of 9 pounds, and accommodia users have lost 10 pounds.Xenical use was associated with total cholesterol improvements, blood pressure and blood sugar control in patients with diabetes, but 15% to 30% of participants in most xenical studies claimed from gastrointestinal problems, including fecal urgency and gas Oily discharge.
The use of meridia was associated with slight increases in blood pressure in seven studies.and the use of the accomplia was associated with a 3% increase in the likelihood of developing a psychiatric problem such as depression, anxiety and irritability.
Although no serious security problem arises during trials, padwal says there is few information about the security of using drugs for many years.
The analysis is published in the latest online edition of BMJ magazine.
"Anti-obesity drugs can help people achieve modest weight loss, but should be taken indefinitely or the weight will return," says Padwal. "Patients and their practitioners have to do a little cage of faith if they plan to continue in these medications for several years."
padwal says that drugs have a place in the management of obesity, as long as patients have realistic expectations about what they can achieve with them.
But in an editorial accompanying the analysis, the researcher of obesity Gareth Williams, PhD, argues against the use of weight loss drugs without medical supervision.
Williams says the recent introduction of a lower dose version of Xenical - sold over-the-counter like alli in the United States - is more about marketing than sound medicine.
"The sale of anti-obesity drugs at the counter will perpetuate the myth that obesity can be fixed simply by bursting a pill and could further harm efforts to promote healthy life, which is the only long-term leakage obesity, "he writes.
In an interview with WebMD, Williams charges that the main beneficiary of the new excessive sales pill will be the manufacturer of Alli Glaxosmithkline.
"I'm afraid I consider this as a rather cynical venture on your part," he says. Taking a weight loss pill without medical supervision will probably distract the message that people have to make significant lifestyle changes to achieve significant weight loss. "
A glaxosmithkline spokesman tells WebMD that Alli is intended to use only by people who are willing to make these lifestyle changes.
"Alli is neither a magic pill nor a quick correction solution, and we will certainly never market this way," says Malesia Dunn. "The way this product has been marketed since the first day, has been to educate the consumer about the importance of making lifestyle changes."
Manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis Acomplia also defended his weight loss medicine in a statement issued on Thursday.
"Although the article describes the weight loss reached ... as" modest ", it recognizes that" quantities still modest weight loss (5-10%) are beneficial ", particularly in patients at risk of developing the type 2. Diabetes, "company spokesman Julissa Viana observes.
A spokesman for the maker of Meridia Abbott Voices a similar feeling.
"Clinical studies demonstrate that losing and maintaining weight loss of 5% -10% significantly reduces serious risks to obesity health as diabetes and cardiovascular disease," says WebMD. "When combined with diet and exercise, meridia can reach 5% weight loss."
