If you’re currently taking the Meridia weight-loss pill and you have a history of heart problems, it’s best you stop using it. The Food and Drug Administration have issue new warnings saying the pill could increase the risk of heart attack and/or stroke.

Meridia is related to the amphetamine family and was approved by the FDA in 1997 to be used as a weight-loss supplement in combination with exercise and a diet. The FDA said in a statement that patients taking the drug should consult their doctors and should have their blood pressure as well as heart rate regularly checked.

According to a report by ABC News, consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is up in arms that the drug is still on the market – last year the group petitioned the FDA to pull the product off shelves. The group says that 84 deaths linked to Meridia have been reported to the FDA to date. In 2002, Public Citizen had a previous petition rejected, the FDA saying they wanted to wait for the findings of a 10 000-patient study to be made known.

The European Medicines Agency has advised that Meridia’s marketing license be suspended, while the new label by the FDA says the drug shouldn’t be used by patients who have a history of hypertension, irregular heartbeats, heart failure, and other problems.

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For years it’s been known that spicy food is a good way to kick-start your metabolism and burn more fat quicker, and now scientists have found a way to put all that spicy goodness in a pill. Celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and Brad Pitt have been said to be fans of Capsiplex, a weight-loss supplement consisting of hot peppers and capsicum that burns as many calories as a 25-minute jog.

The makers of Capsiplex conducted trials at the University of Oklahoma and result proved that the supplement burns 278 more calories before, during and after exercise. But because capsicum is such a spicy ingredient, the challenge was to create a supplement that was safe to ingest in large quantities.

“For decades, scientists have known about the weight-loss potential of red-hot peppers,” a spokesperson told The Daily Mail. “The problem has been the ability to consume such a highly concentrated amount, but we have overcome this by putting a protective coating on the ingredients which stops any gastric irritation. At last we have a safe and healthy supplement to help weight loss.”

Already on shelves in America, Capsiplex has just been introduced in the United Kingdom.

Celeb Diet Doc…
Whether this type of supplement results in weight loss is a big question mark…. but the data is not encouraging.

A previous study using red pepper extract showed that it is was no more effective than a placebo in preventing weight gain after modest weight loss, even though the red pepper group had more fat burning.

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Three new prescription diet pills will soon hit pharmacy shelves in the US. A report by USA Today says these drugs are in the final stage of development as pharmaceutical companies race to see who will be first to grab a piece of the market and help alleviate the nation’s rising levels of obesity.

Although the pills still need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, studies show that in combination with watching your calorie intake and regular exercise, the drugs could individuals lose 15% of their weight within one year.

The three drugs are:
Qnexa by Vivus – it reduces appetite and increases the sense of fullness.
Lorcaserin by Arena Pharmaceuticals – affects brain chemistry to make you feel full. Although some test subject experienced headaches, they lost about 17 pounds on average.
Contrave by Orexigen – it fights cravings and helps control your eating. But some side effects include nausea and constipation.

“We are going to need many different medications in order to treat obesity effectively in the same way we have many different drugs to treat high blood pressure,” Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, told USA Today.

Similarly, Donna Ryan, the associate executive director for clinical research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, told the news agency: “Losing weight is hard, and we need more tools in our toolbox to help patients.”

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A few months ago, comedian Kathy Griffin revealed her bikini body to the world after whipping herself into shape.  Now, she has written a memoir, Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, where she confesses to having had a poor self-image and obsession about weight and her looks and she also took diet pills.  She explained that when she was 26 years old and trying to get her big break in Hollywood people would criticize her for her features such as the shape of her nose.  She got plastic surgery and then hit the gym with full force sometimes doing back-to-back aerobic classes.  Apart from diet pills she even took speed to lose weight. She said,

“I am very proud of my two weeks on speed,” she jokes. “It was full-on illegal speed. I took it to lose weight, which is not very smart.” The result: “I just felt three times as hungry afterward.”

In her book she also explains that while filming season one of the Brooke Shields sitcom Suddenly Susan, she lost 15 pounds and still didn’t fit into the Hollywood clothes on set.  She got liposuction to make up for it and ended up having complications. In her memoir she has included the post-surgical photos to show women that it’s not a procedure to take lightly.  These days, Kathy does things the old-fashioned way by watching what she eats and exercising moderately.

“The funny thing is the lipo, which was more than 10 years ago, has nothing to do with it,” says Griffin. “I actually got into fairly good shape from yawn: diet and exercise.”

Griffin’s memoir will be in bookstores in September.

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The rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, is taking into consideration the idea of making his own range of dietary supplements in a version of vitamin-enriched pills.  But when he mentioned this to the New York Daily News newspaper he didn’t want to reveal very many details.  He quoted,

“Right now, I’m interested in dietary supplements. I’ll be coming up with something very soon.  I can’t tell you what it would be called. I’d be blowing the big launch party!”

50 Cent isn’t the first star to exercise some entrepreneurial know how and try something different, but a diet supplement does seem like an odd one.  The rapper joked with the newspaper and said,

“When my career blew up, I developed the Diddy syndrome. [Sean P.Diddy Combs] As soon as you develop the Diddy syndrome, you put a little more grease in your hair, and soon enough, you’re selling cologne.”

Well, Mr. Jackson is fit, but as for a diet supplement, we’ll just have to see what he comes up with.

Other stars who have exercised their entrepreneurial muscle in the fitness industry is Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow, who is soon opening a gymnasium, and Spice Girl Mel-B, who recently released an exercise DVD.

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Country singer Wynonna Judd is getting in shape and dropping pounds with Alli.  The 44 year old star has signed on as the new spokeswoman for the diet pill Alli, and will appear in their national advertising campaign.  Alli is an FDA approved, over-the-counter weight loss product that promises to increase your weight loss by 50%.

The star says she hopes her public weight battle will help others who are struggling with similar issues.  “This is about me picking something that I know works for me. I can still plan (my work) and not feel like Alli is dictating my life as I have in the past on other programs. It fits into my schedule”.  “I don’t have diet goals. My goals are to live as happy and healthy as I can. People can see themselves in me and say, You know what? If she can do it, I can do it.”

Known for her past struggles with food addiction and weight issues, Judd says that she’s passed up offers to front other diet pills in the past over worries that they were safe.  “Alli has allowed me a sense of well-being,” says Judd.  “The fact that it is FDA-approved really struck a chord with me because that means it has been thoroughly tested and is safe.”

Following a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet, the star hopes that her struggles and triumphs will help motivate others with weight problems to take a step towards a healthier lifestyle. “I hope people will be inspired by the fact that I’ve overcome a lot, I’m still here and it’s a miracle.”

Judd’s  television commercials for Alli will feature ways to be healthier through the Alli program.  And just how does the diet pill work?  The capsule prevents your body from absorbing about a quarter of the fat you eat which can result in undesirable “treatment effects” such as pant soiling and bloating.

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh In…
My advice is to stay away.. far away from Alli. I have reviewed this pill previously and feel it is a waste of money. Not to mention the fact you’ll ruin your pants with all the soiling “treatment effects.” Remember there are no short cuts to healthy weight loss. Diet pills such as Alli offer false hope and will never result in sustainable weight loss.

Britney Spears’ weight is making news again in the latest issue of Star Magazine. Having lost custody of her kids, Britney’s life is spinning out of control along with her weight. Her diet consists of “potato chips, sodas, cheeseburgers and candy.” Oh and btw, she hates veggies and fruits.  Instead she loads up on “junk — lots of greasy dishes and creamy sweets.” Her diet efforts are no less suspect and consist of amphetamines, diuretics and laxatives. The article speculates that her 5 foot 4 inch frame is now carrying about 160 lbs which I believe is about right judging from her latest pics.

Britiney Spears’ diet is such a mess, I don’t know where to begin. It’s a bad sign she doesn’t like fruits and veggies since these are the best foods, by far, for weight loss. Quick fixes such as diet pills, laxatives and diuretics will not result in any sustainable weight loss. Temporary weight loss will result in loss of metabolically active muscle so although you may have lost weight you have gained proportionally more fat… making you skinny fat.

Remember junk in and junk out…. Britney needs a total overhaul.

“Revolutionary Fiber Works to Help you Lose Weight – Even When you Feel Like You’re Out of Options”

“You’re about to discover the “mechanical” method to control your weight. Read on and you’ll discover a secret very few know…”

It’s called fiber and here’s how it works. Fiber is delivered in fruits and veggies and it contains practically no calories and is fat free. It’s not a stimulant, a fat blocker, or diuretic. Here’s what it does. When you eat fruits and veggies before any meal, it you fill your stomach within minutes. You will feel full and eat less, usually for hours. It’s that simple. You’re satisfied, without jittery stimulants or tonics with weird side effects.

Gastric Bypass-Fruits and Veggies™ helps you eat less without feeling cheated. You’ll have better control over what and how much you eat. What’s more, the key ingredient in Fruits and Veggies™ contains practically no calories and is safe and easy to use.

Fruits and Veggies™ is not a magic pill that makes you lose weight overnight, but it does help you get control over your eating. Combined with the dietary advice, this can be the winning solution to meet your weight loss goals. Fruits and Veggies™ gives your own willpower a boost, is safe, affordable, and is available without a prescription.

Information about ingredients: Fruits and Veggies™ is a certified natural product and contains no chemically generated compounds, fillers, or additives. Nature uses only the finest certified ingredients in their highest concentrated and digestible compounds to create Fruits and Veggies™.

“How to Use Gastric Bypass- Fruits and Veggies™”
Information about dosage: Each apple, pear or similar fruit and veggie contains fiber and is low in calories. The recommended daily dosage for Gastric Bypass Fruits and Veggies™ is to take one apple or similar fruit and or veggie 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner with an eight ounce glass of water.

Alli, “the poop and fart your way to weight loss pill,” now has a diet plan. Written by Caroline Apovian, a physician who is the Director of the Center for Weight Management at Boston University Medical Center, it’s aptly titled “the Alli Diet Plan.” I can sum up the purpose of this book by saying…

- it was created to help minimize the pill’s “treatment effects.” The Alli Diet pill works by blocking absorption of fat and that fat needs somewhere to go. Unfortunately that usually means your pants and a lot of time on the toilet. In case you didn’t see my earlier post on the Alli treatment side effects, here are some recommendations regarding these “treatment effects” taken directly from the myalli website:

“You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work.”

“You may not usually get gassy, but it’s a possibility when you take alli. The bathroom is really the best place to go when that happens“

The Alli Diet Plan
The Alli Diet Plan is divided into 3 phases, no doubt to help minimize pant soiling and time spent in the bathroom. You start off in phase 1 in which 15% of your calories come from fat. In phase 2, 20% of your calories come from fat and in phase 3, 30% of your calories come from fat. My assumption here is that by phase 3, you’ll be less likely to experience “problems” with the Alli diet pill. The author recommends that you also take a multivitamin while taking Alli, since you’ll have trouble absorbing the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. The bulk of this book is devoted to menu plans and recipes, so if you’re looking for nutritional and diet information you’ll be disappointed. For those who are committed to the Alli diet pill and want to minimize these embarrassing “side effects,” this book can help.

You should also be aware of safety concerns raised regarding the use of Alli, over a possible link to pre-cancerous growths in the colon. Personally, I recommend that you skip the pill and these “treatment effects” entirely, and just follow a sensible low-fat diet.

Well the buzz around the iPhone launch over the weekend nearly equaled all the buzz surrounding the Alli launch a couple weeks back. In case you haven’t been in your local drugstore, walmart, or watch tv, browse the internet… well you get the idea. The buzz factor for Alli is huge. There is no doubt this will be a blockbuster for the drug company Glaxo Smith Kline. But is it the miracle diet pill that everyone is looking for?

Alli is the over-the-counter version of the prescription drug Orilstat which works by blocking 1/4 of all fat absorption in your gastrointestinal tract.  So now you can poop and fart your way to weight loss without a prescription. Yup, this is the skid-mark diet pill. On the myalli.com website it lists these unpleasantries as “treatment effects”:

• gas with oily spotting
• loose stools
• more frequent stools that may be hard to control

To counter these “treatment effects,” they list a rather humorous list of recommendations. My favorites are:

“You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work.”

“You may not usually get gassy, but it’s a possibility when you take alli. The bathroom is really the best place to go when that happens“

There are other problems with Alli too. Because you don’t absorb fat, you’ll have trouble absorbing fat-soluble vitamins A,D,E and K, so it’s also recommended that you take a multivitamin. More disturbing is its link with pre-cancerous growths in the colon.

The best suggestion on the merits of Alli are given by the the drug company itself. One of their recommendations to combat the “treatment effects” is to eat a low fat diet…