Diet & Weight Loss - Part 1

Society today is obsessed with being thin, regardless of the fact that most people do not come close to fitting the trim ideal.

This obsession brings with it a number of fad diets and business gimmicks---some not entirely harmless. Diet pills are not only of dubious value, but they can also be downright dangerous.

Diet pills are not only of dubious value, but they can also be downright dangerous. Redux, for example, has created great excitement recently, as it is the first diet pill approved by the FDA in 23 years. Although it seems to be the miracle drug of the century, the side effects are often not worth the risks involved. Some side effects are merely annoying: fatigue, diarrhea, vivid dreams, or dry month. Other side effects, however, ca be dangerous---even fatal. Redux has caused significant brain damage in lab tests. It can also initiate a rare, fatal disorder called primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), which destroys blood vessels in the lungs and heart. Research also shows that taking Redux or fen/phen consistently for more than three months increases the risk of PPH as much as 23 times.

Many people, frightened by the undesirable effects of diet pills, have resorted to using "all natural" weight-loss products instead. But "natural" does not always mean healthy. A good example of a very unhealthy "all-natural" substance is ephedra, or Ma huang, as it is sometimes known in Chinese. Dr. David Kessler, former commissioner of the FDA, indicated that over-the-counter products containing Ma-huang are currently under investigation. The investigation was sparked by a large number of reports from the public, including complaints of such symptoms as elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, nerve damage, muscle injury, memory loss, psychosis, stroke, and brain hemorrhage.