Are Prescription Diet Pills Safe?

As with all prescription medicines, diet pills are carefully monitored by the relevant authorities before being approved for use, and then continually monitored after being approved to ensure their continued use is safe. However, using diet pills is not a practice that should be taken lightly, as they do have associated side effects, and the long terms effects are also open to interpretation, and so they should only be used under medical supervision.

Having said that however, the current range of diet pills is far safer than those available a few decades ago.

Early Diet Pills

Early versions of weight loss pills were Amphetamine based drugs that both raised the metabolic rate and suppressed the appetite. Amphetamines were first used in this manner during World War One by both the British and German militaries to reduce strain on logistics when food was in short supply. Later on they were prescribed as diet pills and, while many people did lose weight with these drugs, it did come at a price with symptoms such as Hypertension, abnormal Cardiac Rhythms, and even addiction.

The most common form of Amphetamine in terms of Diet Pills is Phentermine Hydrochloride which is still used for weight loss in most countries. However in the United States it is considered as addictive and is therefore classed as a controlled substance available through prescription only.

Some early uses of Phentermine involved it being combined with Fenfluramine or Dexfenfluramine, so called Phen-Fen. Studies in 1997 linked the use of Phen-Fen with heart valve abnormalities and so Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine were withdrawn from the market. Phentermine is still available, but only by prescription, and when used under medical supervision can be quite safe.

Another popular weight loss medication is Xenical, a fat absorption inhibitor, which is approved for long term use in the treatment of obesity. In fact it is considered safe enough for moves to be made for Orlistat (the chemical in Xenical) to be made available over the counter. In Australia it is already available as an OTC Pharmacy Only medication, while in the US an FDA Advisory Committee voted to make it available OTC although no further progress has been made to this date.

Conclusion

So, while there have been problems in the past, with today's medical system and health monitoring, the usage of Diet Pills is far safer than it has been. With the proper medical supervision from your doctor, Prescription Diet Pills may be an effective way of controlling and losing extra weight.