As Alli goes on sale this Wednesday, a variety of doctors have issued warnings that it is not a ‘miracle’ cure for being overweight. Alli is the half-dose version of the prescription-only weight loss drug Xenical (orlistat) and makers Glaxo-Smith-Kline say that users can lose up to 3lb a week.
However writing in the British Medical Journal Professor Gareth Williams, author of Obesity: Science to Practice and professor of medicine at Bristol University said he believes that over-the-counter sales will create a dangerous cultural attitude towards obesity. He wrote, “Selling anti-obesity drugs over the counter will perpetuate the myth that obesity can be fixed simply by popping a pill and could further undermine efforts to promote healthy living, which is the only long-term escape from obesity”. He also expressed the belief that users would be so put off by side effects – orlistat can in some cases, especially when patients do not follow recommendations to stick to a low-fat diet, cause flatulence and diarrhoea – that they would not finish the course of tablets.
He also warned that amount lost in trials might not be matched by dieters in real-life situations, as “dieters in these trials are highly motivated and under medical supervision.” Another weight-loss tablet that has received a lot of press coverage, Appesat, has also been hit by less-than-enthusiastic comments from a doctor. Dr. Jason Halford, Director of the Study of Human Ingestive Behaviour at the University of Liverpool, is employed by the makers of Appesat to advise them. However he has warned that no weight-loss pill can provide a magic solution, as “Drugs don’t necessarily deal with the reasons why people become obese, which are largely psychological.”
Like Professor Williams, he is concerned that pills may blind users to the need to make changes in their lifestyle. “The cure for obesity and being overweight will never be found in a pill, packet or wonder drug” he said. “That can only come from enormous changes to our food and physical environment, which are going to take a long time to achieve.”
Prescription-only weightloss drugs can definitely help support someone’s efforts to lose weight and, being stronger than those available in pharmacies, are also more effective. However whether or not someone succeeds in losing weight is very dependent on the time and commitment they are prepared to devote to slimming down. Statements like those of Professor Williams and Dr Halford are important as they highlight how drugs can help but never provide a magic wand to deal with the problem.