PPH Lawsuit Attorney

Diet Drugs

Since the 1950s and probably before, people have been looking for ways to drop pounds quickly and with minimal effort. Some people have attempted the tried and true method of food intake reduction combined with more exercise and have not been successful so they too have turned to diet drugs. Overall, there is always a new drug or supplement that is supposed to help a person lose weight quickly. Whether the drug is over-the-counter or prescription-only, they all sell and sell well.

Some of the more common diet drugs on the market right now are supplements that include Hoodia. While this has been featured on Oprah, as all of the pop-up ads will tell you, it is not necessarily going to work for everyone. Even the ads on TV have a little disclaimer at the bottom of the page that says that the results they’re depicting in their ad are not typical. Another popular drug lately has been SlimQuick. This one was popularized by the late Anna Nicole Smith. It helped her lose roughly 70 pounds in about a year.

An older diet assistance supplement is Slim Fast. Lately, they’ve come out with a new version that is supposed to control a person’s appetite for up to four hours. This version, as their website will show you, involves not just including Slim Fast in the daily food but also adding exercise. Their “supplement” is more of a portion control diet and not so much a drug.

In the 1990s, the prescription drug of choice to combat unwanted pounds was fen-phen. This drug worked beautifully at helping people drop pounds with minimal effort. Unfortunately, it also caused primary pulmonary hypertension. The most popular diet drug at the moment is Alli. This drug has FDA approval (much like fen-phen did) to help people drop pounds. Whereas most of the older diet drugs were appetite suppressants, Alli prevents the absorption of fats by the intestine. As fats have the most calories per gram of the three sources of energy, this significantly reduces the amount of calories a person is taking in during a day. Alli too requires diet adjustment though. An excessively fatty diet will result in unpleasant side effects from the drug.

Basically, there is no fool proof way of dropping pounds. The items that promise that you don’t have to do any real work to lose weight have pretty nasty side effects, like primary pulmonary hypertension. Also, by suppressing an appetite, a person doesn’t necessarily get enough food. This means that while a person may be dropping pounds, they’re dropping muscle mass and protein from their body, not fat. This, over time, can result in significant damage to a person’s internal organs. The lesson is that diet drugs are not worth it. The tried-and-true method of less food + more movement in a day works way better than any other form of dieting. Plus, if done correctly, this method doesn’t have the nasty potential side effects of the diet drugs.

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension following usage of fen-phen or other related diet drugs, contact the PPH Lawsuit Attorneys of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000.