Just the same, reimbursement for diet pills may be an uphill battle.
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People taking "serotonin enhancing" drugs including newer anti-depressants, anti-migraine agents, decongestants, diet pills, amphetamines and the illegal drug "ecstasy" are at risk.
But as we said in this earlier story about ways to play the obesity epidemic, diet pills can be disappointing if not dangerous.
Wyeth's diet pills, Redux (dexfenfluramine) and Pondimin (fenfluramine), were taken by 6 million Americans before getting yanked off the market in 1997 because of a link to heart-valve defects.
Physicians can legally prescribe medications for uses not specifically approved by the FDA. But most obesity doctors do so cautiously given the history of diet pills removed from the market due to serious side effects including death.
While citrus aurantium may have fewer side effects and be easier to obtain than prescription diet pills, I think the risk, cost and lack of clear benefit of supplements containing this compound do not make it a better alternative to diet pills.
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The dose they employed - up to four grams per kilo of bodyweight - was far greater than any that could be achieved using diet or vitamin pills, as the digestive system does not absorb more than a fixed amount taken orally.
Those who can't be bothered with diet and exercise can pop pills to counteract the effects of their unhealthy habits.
By contrast, someone with a heart problem may be unsure whether to pop pills, operate, change his diet or do nothing.
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If so, millions of healthy Americans now focusing on a better diet and more exercise might need to start popping pills.
Millions of us are popping prescription pills for innocuous ills, when simple lifestyle changes of diet and exercise--harped on by physicians for decades--are more effective and a lot cheaper.
Half the time patients in Sanofi's trials stopped taking the pills--typical for a weight-loss trial, which often entails a restrictive diet.
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