Human health has been a topic increasing in popularity. This includes both eating healthy and exercising to keep your body in shape. Not only can it decrease risks for many diseases, but more importantly, make your body look great at the beach. For many busy Americans, the work required to live a healthy lifestyle may be too much to ask for. These individuals want to enjoy the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, but without the effort required. This led to the creation of diet pills. No need to give up your poor diet or lazy behavior anymore! Consumers just need to take a pill and they too can enjoy the benefits of a healthy lifestyle without the hassle! However, this fast and easy weight loss hack may not be as safe or effective as advertised.
There are several techniques that drug manufacturers use to help consumers lose weight. One diet pill works by blocking an enzyme that helps digest and absorb dietary fat. Another increases serotonin levels which increases the feeling of fullness, leading to a decreased appetite. Another option is a diet pill which combines an antiseizure drug (which has a side effect of weight loss) with another substance (which decreases appetite). Lastly, one diet pill combines an antidepressant with addiction medication to decrease food cravings, therefore, intake.
Although these medications may seem promising, they are not heavily regulated and cause some serious side effects. To list a few, it ranges from nausea, insomnia, and anxiety to heart problems, memory issues, seizures, and increased risk of suicide. If the side effects of these medications don’t discourage you from using, the ineffectiveness may.
Ultimately, lifestyle changes are required in order to see true sustainable body change. Diet pills are a temporary solution to a lifelong battle. Overweight consumers will not see a significant change in body weight if they continue their dietary and physical practices. The diet pill will not magically undo the negative effects of an unhealthy lifestyle. If you want that perfect beach body, stop popping pills, make dietary changes, and increase exercise. It’s a significantly safer and more effective weight loss strategy.
Sources:
https://matthewsmd.com/news/5-reasons-weight-loss-pills-almost-never-work/
The idea of diet pills, despite their adverse effects, shows how we as a society are at least trying to combat the large amounts of obesity within the population. However, I know that there are more effective and safer ways for people to lose weight. Perhaps by providing more public information and advertisements about the negatives associated with taking these diet pills, we can discourage people from using these substances and turning to alternative modes of weight loss.
ReplyDeleteThe pills you described in your post used to be called Rainbow Pills because they combine different medication types that have different purposes and functions. In the 1960s these rainbow bills were seen to cause death before they were removed from the market by the FDA. Even though some of the long-term side effects of these pills are still unknown, the short-term side effects as well as those seen by the rainbow pills back in the day should be incentive enough for the ban of these diet pills or at least the discouragement of their use in weight loss. The article below gives more insight to the terrors of these diet pills.
Cohen, P. A., Goday, A., & Swann, J. P. (2012). The Return of Rainbow Diet Pills. American Journal of Public Health, 102(9), 1676–1686. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300655