Advanced Diets Advice & News

Natural diet pills and over-the-counter herbal pills are big business these days! Some claims about the weight loss benefits when using herbal weight loss supplements or ‘natural’ fat-burning pills or appetite suppressants can be misleading at best.

To date, there is little (if any at all) proven research that these ‘natural’ diet pills can help you successfully lose weight. Many herbal diet supplements are amphetamine-type stimulants that over stimulate your nervous system, cause ill and in some extreme cases even death. Some diet pill supplements (such as those that contain ephedra) have been proven to have serious health side effects such as heart attacks and death. It is important to remember that just because a diet pill touts that it is all ‘natural’ that doesn’t meant that is safe or that it can’t harm you.

Over-the-Counter Diet Pills

Many over-the-counter pills like Xenedrine at one time used a combination of the stimulant ephedra and caffeine to help lose weight quickly and shed the pounds. They worked by increasing energy expenditure and reducing ones appetite (ephedrine acts on the satiety center). But back in 2003, the FDA banned the sale ephedra due to increased risk of heart attack.

Today there are many herbal weight loss supplements on the market that utilize different mechanisms in the body to help aid in dieting and weight loss. Here are a few of the more common ingredients:

Herbal ephedra, caffeine – helps to speed up metabolism and shed pounds

Glocomannan and Psyllium – Causes a ‘full’ feeling thus helping to reduce your appetite

Hydro citric acid, green tea – Slows down the production of fat

Chitosan (or chitin) – Bocks fat from being absorbed into the body, effectively keeping weight off

As you can see there are many diet pills available both prescription and natural diet pills. And some of them can be potentially harmful to your health. Always do your research and see your doctor before starting a new diet. Don’t fall into all the hype, do your research!

Comments are closed.