The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates dietary supplements, including those promoted for weight loss. Like other dietary supplements, weight-loss supplements are different from over-the-counter or prescription drugs in that the FDA doesn't classify them as drugs. The FDA has developed these questions and answers (Q & A) to help consumers, health professionals, and the general public understand the actions of the FDA regarding weight-loss products contaminated with various prescription drugs and chemicals. Many of these products are marketed as dietary supplements.
Unfortunately, the FDA cannot analyze and identify all weight-loss products on the market that contain potentially harmful contaminants to ensure their safety. Compliance measures and consumer warnings about unapproved products only cover a small fraction of the potentially dangerous weight-loss products that are marketed to consumers on the Internet and in some retail establishments. Most prescription weight-loss medications work by making you feel less hungry or full. It affects the way the body absorbs fat.
Naltrexone is used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction. Bupropion is a medication to treat depression, called an antidepressant, and a medication to help people stop smoking, called help to stop smoking. Like all antidepressants, bupropion contains a warning about the risk of suicide. Therefore, your provider will need to check your blood pressure regularly at the start of treatment.
Common side effects include nausea, headache, and constipation. Liraglutide is also used to control diabetes. It is given as a daily injection. You can also get orlistat in a reduced-strength form without a prescription (Alli).
Orlistat can cause side effects, such as gassing and loose stools. You must be on a low-fat diet when taking this medication. In rare cases, people have had serious liver injury with orlistat. However, researchers haven't found that the drug causes liver damage.
Phentermine and topiramate are a combination of a weight-loss medication called phentermine and an anticonvulsant called topiramate. Phentermine has the potential to be misused because it acts like a stimulant drug called amphetamine. Other possible side effects include an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, insomnia, constipation, and nervousness. Topiramate increases the risk of birth defects.
Semaglutide is also used to help control type 2 diabetes. It is taken as a weekly injection to control obesity. To take the medication, you'll need test results to show that you have one of these conditions:. Setmelanotide does not treat any of the genetic problems that cause these conditions.
However, it can help you lose weight. It can decrease your appetite and make you feel fuller. And it can help you burn calories while your body is at rest. Never give setmelanotide to a child younger than 6 years old.
It can cause newborns and babies to have dangerous reactions. If you stop taking the medication, those signs will disappear and the hunger signals will return, so it will be as difficult as it was before the medication to maintain the weight you lost. Just know that you need to use prescription drugs to lose weight besides not instead of a healthy diet and exercise. In the trial, in which everyone received the new drug or a placebo plus a lifestyle intervention, the group that received the placebo lost 2.4% of their body weight and their health parameters also improved, although not as much as the semaglutide group.
You don't need to enter a normal weight category to reap the health and quality of life benefits of weight loss. If you've lost enough weight to improve your health and haven't had serious side effects, your health care provider may recommend that you take the medication long-term. People who use this type of medication may feel full with smaller portions and are less hungry, which induces weight loss. The FDA has inspected several companies involved in the sale of these products and is currently requesting the recall of these products.
That side effect may be due to the medication, but it can also occur when people lose weight quickly, since weight loss changes the composition of the contents of the gallbladder and can also change contractility, creating an environment that is conducive to the development of gallstones. And in this trial, more than 86% of the participants in the semaglutide group achieved a minimum weight loss of 5%. Combining weight-loss medications and lifestyle changes leads to greater weight loss than lifestyle changes alone. May cause profound dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, with loss of potassium, calcium, sodium, and magnesium.
Phenolphthalein was an ingredient in some over-the-counter laxatives until 1999, when the FDA reclassified the drug as “not generally recognized” as safe and effective, after studies indicated that phenolphthalein posed a possible carcinogenic risk. Regulatory requirements for dietary supplements differ from those covered by conventional foods and medications (prescription and over-the-counter). Many weight-loss medications had to be removed from the market due to heart valve disease, pulmonary hypertension, and other serious problems. While some of the products identified are marketed as “dietary supplements,” all of these products should have been submitted to the FDA for approval as a new drug prior to marketing, since products that contain an FDA-approved drug, such as sibutramine, or an ingredient that does not supplement the diet, are not dietary supplements.
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