How badly do you want to lose weight?

Are you cool with experiencing headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, constipation, back pain and cough?

How about tumors or heart valve defects?

I mean losing weight is pretty important. Who knows if those animals and patients in those tests wouldn’t have developed those conditions anyway?

Want to hear the latest in moronic moves? How stupid does the FDA think we are? Apparently, quite stupid since it’s latest drug approval indicates that there are people SO desperate to lose weight that they’d be willing take the new drug Belviq and risk these side effects.

Here’s the most disturbing news: studies show that the drug, you know, the one that you could potentially grow a tumor while taking, will help you lose .5 lbs a MONTH.

Yes, you read that correctly.

You can lose up to an astounding half a pound in a month’s time by taking this drug.

This is the first fat loss drug that’s been approved in the last 13 years. All other drugs, including, fenfluramine, have been pulled off shelves due to nasty side effects (like death). A tumor seems inconsequential in comparison to actually dying.

And the loss of .5 lbs, well, that would be well worth it, unless of course the tumor growth increased your weight by the same amount. Maybe you could be lucky enough to have the tumor grow in a cool place (like your boobs, and hope for one on each side or you may look sort of weird ;))

Seriously though, this has got to be examined a little further.

Here are the facts:

How does it work?

Belviq works by activating the brain receptors for serotonin; this is a neurotransmitter that triggers feelings of satiety and satisfaction.

How well does it work?

With clinical trials with people who didn’t have Type 2 Diabetes who used the drug, they lost 5% of their starting weight in a year or an average of 12 pounds. This compares to those taking a placebo who lost 23% of their body weight in the same time frame. Dieters are counseled to adopt a healthy diet and exercise program in addition to taking the drug. (It seems that these people didn’t have much counsel in terms of what a healthy diet and exercise program would be since they should have gotten better results with diet and exercise alone, just my thoughts…) The approved labeling for Belviq also recommends that people discontinue the drug if they fail to lose 5% of their body weight after 12 weeks; longer treatment is unlikely to lead to meaningful weight loss.

For example, studies show that if you were a male weighing 220 pounds, after a FULL year on Belviq you could drop ALL the way down to 214 (about .5 pounds per month).

Who should take Belviq?

The FDA approved the medication for people who are obese (with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher) or who are overweight (with a BMI of 27 or above) and also have at least one weight-related health condition like Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Side effects?

I mentioned at the start of the post the most common side effects of Belviq to be: headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, dry mouth and constipation; in patients with diabetes, side effects include low blood sugar, headache, back pain, cough and fatigue.

There was also some concern that Belviq caused tumors in animals and heart-valve defects in people.

The company provided some new data that showed that heart problems would not occur at the recommended low doses. The FDA does not require that patients be monitored for heart-valve damage but, once the drug hits the market, the company is required to conduct six studies as to whether the drug causes heart attacks or strokes in those that take it.

Why is there not more weight loss drugs available?

Manipulating the body’s weight-controlling pathways can have long-term consequences on the heart and other metabolic systems, so drug developers have a high bar to clear to prove their compounds are safe. Many drugs have been pulled due to serious side effects.

To conclude, it appears that your grandmother’s advice to push away from the table and get moving has fallen on deaf ears. Everyone is looking for a magic bullet that takes no effort or will power.

People are literally willing to die to be thin.

This is a very sad scenario. The fact is, if we take our grandmother’s advice, start to eat well and once people start to exercise they feel great about themselves. Weight starts to drop, spirits start to lift. Exercise provides a natural high that no amount of high fructose corn syrup can provide.

If you need some practical follow along advice as to how you can feel better NOW, keep reading this blog, and check out my program to see if it’s right for you. It will literally jump start you to feeling and looking better.

This entry was posted on July 10, 2012 at 1:50 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in Healthy Eating by Shawna 5 Comments