The FDA Retrains Certain Over-The-Counter Weight Loss Pill Products

Certainly the accessibility of over-the-counter weight loss pills and supplements at health food stores, pharmacies, and other stores is tempting if you are trying to lose weight. Initially, it appears to be an easy option particularly if just suppressing your calorie intact isn't doing the job quickly enough or you have hit a diet plateau. Ordering weight loss pills doesn't require seeing a doctor, or having a prescription. A variety of over-the-counter pill manufactures sell their weight loss products in a great number of stores including the local drugstore, supermarket, or health food store. Quite a few dietary supplements and weight-loss aids, including over-the-counter pills, aren't subject to the same rigorous standards as are prescription drugs. Non-prescription weight or health products can be sold with minor proof of effectiveness or safety. Since there is definitely money to be made, companies do just about anything to make the consumer feel unperturbed enough to purchase and use their numerous products.

Moreover, with the proliferation of the word "natural" added to just about any product label with an implied understanding that what is "natural" must be healthy, consumers are duped into thinking that all "natural" weight loss pill supplements are ok. Regrettably that is an erroneous assumption as history shows. In 2004 in response to accumulating evidence of adverse effects and deaths related to ephedra, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) prohibited the sale of supplements containing ephedra and other ephedrine-like ingredients. The ban was challenged by the manufacturers making pill and liquid supplements that used ephedrine-like ingredients and the courts overturned the initial verdict. Eventually in 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the original decision prohibiting ephedra from weight related products.

Jumping ahead to 2009, the FDA concludes that dozens of weight-loss supplements, most of them imported from China, contain hidden and/ or potentially dangerous drugs. One example is StarCaps, a weight loss pill / capsule, that was sold as a natural dietary supplements using papaya and lauded by a number of well known sports and television personalities including Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons and Today" show host Kathie Lee Gifford. Once the agency discovered the capsules also contained a strong pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide, the FDA cited the product as being in violation of the law. Because bumetanide can cause serious side effects, it is very fundamental that its presence be noted on a product's label.

Just recently in the spring of 2012 another warning was presented by the Food and Drug Administration. This time it is was regarding a weight loss pill called "Japan Rapid Weight Loss Diet Pills." The pills come in three different colors. An FDA lab analysis has proven that the green version of the pills contained "undeclared phenolphthalein," while hidden phenolphthalein and sibutramine were found in their yellow pills. Sibutramine is a weight loss agent originally used in the drug Meridia that was removed from the market in 2010 because it enhanced the risk of heart attacks. In the Japan Rapid Weight Loss Diet Pills blue pills, there were concealed amounts of sibutramine and ephedrine alkaloids. It seems shocking and quite disconcerting because the budding trend, according to the FDA, is of companies selling products purporting to be dietary supplements with a list of declared ingredients on their labels, butin fact also contain concealed ingredients that can be risky. This is particularly true among over-the-counter weight loss pill supplements. Buyers beware!

Don't believe over-the-counter weight loss supplements are the uncomplicated answer to weight loss. A routine that is doctor overseen, helps you reach your weight loss goals, and then supplies the means to retain a long-term, healthy life style is a far superior decision in the long run.

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