The consequences of careless weight loss are far beyond what most people imagine. Especially the so-called lazy way of losing weight, which relies on drinking slimming tea and taking slimming pills, has many side effects and can even be life-threatening. The United States has the most advanced technology in drug research and development in the world, but even weight-loss drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and developed by well-known pharmaceutical companies may become health enemies.
Fen-Phen, the most popular weight loss therapy in the United States in the 1990s, is a combination of two weight loss drugs, fenfluramine and phentermine. . Both of these drugs were developed by American Home Products Company, one of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world, and approved by the US FDA. Throughout the 1990s, approximately 6 million people used this therapy to lose weight.
This therapy was later found to cause serious health hazards. Fenfluramine is a weight loss drug that acts on the central nervous system and suppresses appetite by increasing feelings of fullness. The drug was approved in the United States in 1995 for the treatment of obesity. Later, many studies confirmed that the use of fenfluramine can cause serious side effects such as heart valve damage, central nervous system damage, pulmonary hypertension, and finger necrosis. 30% of people who took fenfluramine to lose weight had electrocardiograms. An exception occurred. The FDA had to withdraw the drug from the market in September 1997 and reminded all patients who had been taking fenfluramine for a long time to go to the hospital immediately for a cardiac ultrasound examination for heart valve damage.
In August 1999, the court ruled that American Home Products Company should pay US$23.3 million in compensation to a woman who suffered from heart problems due to the use of Fenfen weight loss therapy. Since then, the American household products company has been forced to agree to compensate all dieters who have heart problems caused by Fenfen weight loss therapy*** $3.75 billion. Compensation for those who suffered damage to the lungs and central nervous system has not yet been finalized.
Coincidentally, another major American pharmaceutical company, Chicago-based Abbott, launched the weight-loss drug Meridia in 1998, which also had serious side effects, even leading to People died, consumers were suing, and Italy banned the use of Meridian in 2002. Reported side effects caused by Meridia include: increased blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, damage to the heart muscle, neck pain, chest pain, body pain, hyperactivity, anxiety, stroke, etc.
In the United States, before a drug is put on the market, it often takes many strictly trained doctors and masters from various professions to go through several years of research, multiple clinical trials, and invest hundreds of millions in scientific research funds. Even so, there are still countless drugs that cannot pass the FDA's sharp eyes and cannot be marketed. Due to their strong technical strength and financial resources, large pharmaceutical companies are easier to produce products and have a better reputation.
From this you can see that weight loss drugs developed by big pharmaceutical companies like American Home Products and Abbott can cause so much trouble, not to mention those little-known, Some small domestic companies are very backward in technology and management and do not even know the concept of modern pharmaceuticals. Most of the weight loss pills, weight loss health products and other products produced by these small companies are disguised as pure Chinese medicine preparations and pure natural formulas, taking advantage of Chinese people's misunderstandings about natural products and misleading consumers through extensive advertising.
Why do you say this? Because of the many ingredients in natural products, people’s understanding and research on their pharmacological and toxicological effects are in a complete mess, and no one knows what’s going on. If you don’t understand the pharmacological and toxicological effects, and the weight-loss medicines and weight-loss health care products made with such natural formulas are considered good if they don’t kill anyone, how can you talk about the weight-loss effect?
The problem is that many consumers are not aware of this and think that natural products are good. They do not know that many natural products also contain ingredients that can cause serious side effects to the body, let alone investigate whether the manufacturers have any. Understand the pharmacological and toxicological effects of natural products. Especially if the product does not appear in the form of a prescription drug but is labeled as a health supplement or slimming tea, it is easier to mislead consumers.
In the early 1990s, 37-year-old Ms. June Greer wanted to lose weight by drinking health-care slimming tea.
A few months after she drank a super slimming tea religiously, this athletic woman suddenly died in her sleep.
Experts agree that this super slimming tea is the main culprit in June Greer’s death, because the main ingredient of super slimming tea is senna, which is a laxative and long-term use will cause Severe electrolyte imbalance can cause arrhythmia and heart failure. Another example is the plant ephedra, whose active ingredient, ephedrine, is a stimulating drug that accelerates metabolism and achieves weight loss by acting on the central nervous system, but it can damage human organs.
The RAND clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health published a report on the effects of ephedra and ephedrine on weight loss and improvement of physical fitness and its safety at the end of February this year. Reports show that taking ephedrine, ephedrine plus caffeine, or other health products containing ephedrine and caffeine in the short term can help you lose weight. The presence or absence of caffeine has little effect on weight loss. Taking ephedra (ephedrine) resulted in an average weight loss of 2 pounds per month over 4 to 6 months compared to a control group, but the effect beyond 6 months was unclear. Existing data does not support that ephedra (ephedrine) can improve physical performance, and ephedrine plus caffeine can slightly improve short-term physical performance. All weight-loss health products containing ephedrine, ephedrine plus caffeine are 2 to 3 times more likely to produce side effects such as nausea, vomiting, anxiety, mood swings, ADHD, and heart palpitations than the control blank.
According to reports, since the mid-1990s, at least 54 deaths and more than 1,000 complications have been related to the abuse of ephedrine. Most of these people are young people, and some people become ill or die after taking ephedrine for only a few weeks or even a few days. Two pregnant women also suffered miscarriages due to taking ephedrine.
As a result, scientists believe that ephedrine may pose risks that far outweigh its benefits. Another example is diuretics, which can quickly reduce weight through large amounts of urination and have become the favorite of some people who want to lose weight. However, clinical trials have proven that these drugs have very obvious side effects, including dry mouth, irregular heartbeat, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, etc. Obviously, many so-called natural weight-loss health foods are drugs with serious side effects.
The problems with prescription drugs and natural products are not all the current problems with domestic weight loss products. Man-made hidden dangers are sometimes no less harmful than those caused by immature scientific research and technology. Among all seasons of the year, summer is the peak sales season for weight loss products. In order to show off your figure, losing weight has become a top priority for women. Therefore, advertisements for various weight loss products are overwhelming.
According to the introduction of the market circulation rules management of the State Food and Drug Administration, there are three major problems in the current advertising of weight loss drugs: First, exaggerated propaganda, the advertising is garish, "medicine can cure the disease", "radical cure", "one box" Impossible promises such as “results”, “invalid refunds”, “underwritten by insurance companies”, “guaranteed weight loss success”, “never rebound” are flying all over the place, and every manufacturer is like the reincarnation of Hua Tuo. Second, the starting point is wrong. The focus of weight loss is not on health but on fashion and beauty. Therefore, some fashionable people who do not actually need to lose weight also join the ranks of slimming down - catching up with fashion is beautiful. The third is false promises. The contraindications and key tips in weight loss products are vague and unclear, and the pharmacology is unclear. They even intentionally conceal side effects or conduct misleading publicity. This "factor", that "gene", new terms and new concepts are unheard of. Under the banner of pseudo-technology and the effect of celebrity advertising, it is strange that people who want to lose weight don't feel dizzy.