Concerns that OTC anti-obesity drug, orlistat, brand name Alli, may cause liver damage.

Reported here: BBC News item.

Extracts from the report:

"The FDA said the most commonly reported adverse reactions included the yellowing of skin or whites of the eyes, weakness and stomach pain.

Between 1999 and 2008, the agency received 32 reports of liver damage, 30 of which occurred outside the US. Of these 27 resulted in hospitalisation.

The agency said it was now conducting a review of the safety of the drug, but stressed no definite association with liver damage had been established at this stage."

"In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had received a total of 1,295 suspected adverse drug reaction reports associated with orlistat, including 137 involving suspected liver damage, since it was licensed in 1998."

There is no need to take drugs, risking adverse side-effects, to lose weight. You can lose weight fast, easily and safely by cutting down on salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Vulnerable groups

Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

GlaxoSmithKline's OTC 'Slimming Pill', Alli, May Be Causing Liver Damage

The Telegraph reports that "the pill contains the drug orlistat which some users have claimed can bring on hepatitis and other liver abnormalities. Other reported side effects have been headaches, diarrhoea, abdominal discomfort, depression and fatigue."

You do not need to take risky'slimming' drugs to lose weight. The easiest, safest, fastest way to lose excess weight is to give up dieting and concentrate instead on avoiding salt and salty food. This entails eating plenty of real food, cooked from fresh, instead of processed food and ready meals, which contain a lot of added salt. Cutting down on salt/sodium causes the body to excrete excess water (fluid retention), which is the cause of excess weight.

People who are overweight/fat/obese are sensitive to salt, which for them can result in sodium and water retention and therefore, obviously, weight gain. This in turn can result in calcium deficiency, which causes fat retention. Reducing salt intake reduces both the fluid retention and the fat retention. - Reducing calories does not address the fluid retention problem at all and that is the explanation for the fact that diets don't work.

Prescription drugs including many steroids, many antidepressants, anti-psychotics and epilepsy drugs as well as other pharmaceuticals, are a major cause of fluid retention/obesity/salt sensitivity and especially of morbid obesity. - Avoid taking prescription drugs unless they are absolutely necessary.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations.

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Despite its expense and unpleasant side-effects, alli, the 'slimming' drug, causes weight loss of only 2.5kg a year!

Obesity drug 'causes only limited weight loss'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Alli, also known as orlistat, causes slimmers to lose only around 5.5 lb (2.5kg) a year, according to an editorial in the Lancet."

So, despite its expense and very unpleasant side-effects, alli, the 'slimming' drug, causes weight loss of only 2.5kg a year! - Yet if obese people simply avoid eating salt and salty food they can easily lose more than 6kg in the first month without hunger and with no adverse side-effects whatsoever!

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

and FAT RETENTION

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Over the counter version of slimming pill, Alli, is going to be made available from pharmacists.

Slimming pill to be available from chemist

From the Telegraph:

"GlaxoSmithKline has applied for a lower dose of its anti-obesity drug Xenical to be made available under the supervision of chemists.

The new version of the drug, called Alli, has a lower dose of the active ingredient orlistat and has been available without prescription in the US since June.

People taking it three times a day for 12 weeks were twice as likely to have lost at least 10 per cent of their bodyweight, but experts warn the weight may creep back on once the course is finished."

"Xenical works by stopping the body absorbing fat from the diet, but reported side effects include headaches, diarrhoea, abdominal discomfort, depression and fatigue."

There is no need at all to take this pharmaceutical junk with its unpleasant side-effects in order to lose excess weight. Nor is it necessary to diet to lose weight. - Dieting is harmful and ineffective. - Overweight people can lose weight fast and completely safely by cutting out salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Low-strength version of the prescription-only diet pill Xenical soon to be on sale over the counter, expected to cost the same - about £1.40 a day

Over the counter slimming pill on sale - Telegraph

Extract:

"A slimming pill which helps people lose 50 per cent more weight than through dieting alone goes on sale over the counter in stores in the US tomorrow.

The Alli capsules are the first of their kind to be sold without prescription and could be available in Britain by the end of next year.

One taken with every meal could result in a 12-stone woman shedding more than half a stone, or one dress size, within four months.

Manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline intends applying for a UK licence later this year which could see it in chemists by the end of 2008."

But you can lose weight faster than this - without pills, without hunger, without counting calories, completely safely - and without paying anything at all! All you have to do is give up 'slimming' and eat plenty of good food, including plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables, but DON'T EAT ANY SALT OR SALTY FOOD! - That's the important and necessary thing - because it reduces the fluid retention which is the cause of excess weight. (If overeating were the cause of obesity then dieting would work, but as most people know, dieting doesn't work. - Reducing salt/sodium intake DOES work!)

So save your money and safeguard your health by not buying or swallowing these pills, which are unnecessary to lose weight and they do have adverse side-effects. - The only side-effects from avoiding salt are good effects...(o: - Your blood pressure will come down, you will have more energy and vitality, you will be more mentally alert, you will sleep better, you will be less likely to have a heart attack or stroke, etc.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
If you need more help or information you can contact me from my website.

First over-the-counter weight loss pill to be UK-approved next year

First over-the-counter weight loss pill to be UK-approved next year - Independent

This is absolute lunacy!

1st Extract:

"In the US, the Food and Drug Administration gave the go-ahead to Alli last month, triggering a marketing campaign that the company hopes will reap five to six million US customers a year. Priced between $12 and $25 a week (£5-12), Alli could have annual sales of $1.5bn. "

What a disgraceful and unnecessary waste of money!

2nd Extract:

"Glaxo said yesterday that it planned to apply for a European licence by the end of the year with the launch of the drug expected to follow within 12 months. Alli is a version of Xenical, the prescription weight loss remedy launched by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, in 1999.

Two thirds of adults are overweight or obese and the numbers are continuing to rise. Experts believe diet and discipline are not alone sufficient to prevent waistlines expanding and that extra help is required. "

All that is necessary to curb the growing incidence of obesity is to tell the truth about what causes it! - Obesity is NOT caused by overeating. It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' is unnecessary, ineffective and often harmful.

3rd Extract:

"This unabsorbed fat has to go somewhere and dieters using it are prone to diarrhoea, its least attractive side-effect. Steve Burton, the Glaxo executive in charge of promoting Alli, has used the drug himself and described to reporters the embarrassment it caused when he ate a fish and chip meal - the result was a dash home for a change of clothes. Still, Mr Burton, 48, is a walking advertisement for Alli. Over three years his weight fell from 275lb to 210lb. "

Appalling! - And Mr Burton could have lost the same amount or more of weight in a far shorter time, simply by reducing, and then eliminating, all avoidable salt/sodium from what he eats, and making sure this included plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit. - This would have been completely safe, and cost-free, and would have involved no hunger, no fat restriction, no adverse side-effects at all. - Indeed there would have been a host of additional health benefits from the salt restriction.

Addendum (added 18 October 2008)
See FAT RETENTION for further information and advice. - It is a webpage I had not written at the time I posted this news item originally.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions