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RX Drugs
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Specific prescription diet pills for weight loss, include:
Orlistat (trade name Xenical) - Prescription Diet Pills
One of the more recent prescription diet pills, Orlistat/Xenical works in the intestinal
tract. It claims to reduce the amount of fat that can be absorbed during digestion by
about thirty percent. Studies show that people who use orlistat/Xenical can lose
about 10 percent of their initial weight over the course of the year, but because fat
can't be digested diarrhea is common if you don't follow a low-fat diet while taking
the pills.
Weight loss and blocking fat absorption is one thing; but Orlistat/Xenical also
blocks absorption of essential fat-soluble vitamins. So people taking
Orlistat/Xenical may be deficient in vitamins A, D, E and K, and beta-carotene.
Sibutramine (trade name Meridia) - Prescription Diet Pills
Sibutramine is one of the latest generation of prescription diet pills. It is used for
both weight loss and weight maintenance. It works on brain chemicals to reduce
appetite. Studies have shown that Sibutramine can help people lose weight and
maintain the loss but the weight loss tends to plateau after about a year with a loss
of about ten percent of starting weight. That's enough to produce definite health
benefits but probably not a sufficient loss to satisfy an ideal body image.
However, like all prescription diet pills, Sibutramine can cause side effects. The
drug may elevate both blood pressure and heart rate. Despite it's effects on weight
loss and body shape, Sibutramine/Meridia remains a controversial weight loss
medication.
In fact, even before it approved Meridia as a prescription weight loss drug, the FDA
was concerned about it's safety for dieters wanting to lose weight. An FDA advisory
committee in 1997 voted 5-4 that the benefits of the diet drug did not outweigh its
risks for heart problems.
Other Prescription Diet Pills
The following appetite suppressants are available by prescription for diet and
weight loss.
• Diethylpropion (trade names Tenuate and Dospan)
• Mazindol (trade names Sanorex and Mazanor)
• Phendimetrazine (trade names Bontril, Plegine, Prelu-2 and X-Trozine)
• Phentermine (trade names Apidex-P, Fastin, Ionamin and Oby-trim)
In studies that combined these diet drugs with diet and exercise in long term tests
(longer than 6 months) about 50 per cent of the participants lost about ten percent
and about one third lost fifteen percent. But because all weight loss drugs have
side effects the FDA has approved these appetite suppressants only for short term
use - generally only a few weeks to a few months.
Most Appetite Suppressant Prescription Diet Pills are Short Term Only
Excepting Sibutramine, most other appetite suppressants stop working quite
quickly. Within 3-12 weeks the brain develops a tolerance for their appetite-
suppressing action. Only Sibutramine is meant for long term use.
Latest Prescription Diet Pills Study - Bupropion SR
In a multi-center, placebo-controlled study, the sustained-release formulation of
bupropion hydrochloride (Bupropion SR) in combination with a program that
included an energy-restricted diet, and exercise, resulted in significant weight loss
in obese patients up to 24 weeks. Further, a 24-week extension of the study
showed that the average percentage of weight loss was maintained in patients
who continued on this regimen for the total 48 weeks. But Bupropion SR has not
been approved by FDA as a prescription diet drug for weight loss and has not been
studied extensively in obese patients.
More than 300 non-depressed, clinically obese men and women (as defined by a
Body Mass Index of 30-44 kg/m2 or about 30% - 100% above their ideal body
weight) participated in the investigation.
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