Diet pills. How do they work?

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Jayj180894
Jayj180894 Posts: 286 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've taken diet pills before. Nothing dangerous just the ones advertised on TV, or ones you can pick up in the supermarket. Obviously I lost weight because I was DIETING while taking them, so would of lost weight anyway! Obviously after a little bit of research, I stopped throwing my money away and stopped taking them. I just want to know what they actually do?!? You have be on a calorie controlled diet for them to work (so weight loss would be inevitable). Surely if they are allowed to advertise help with weight loss they have to do something?!? Disclaimer: Im not interested in taking any, and it's just a question out of pure interest. I do believe they don't aid in weightloss, but wondered if they did actually do anything at all?
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Replies

  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    They don't do anything. Snake oil. Good to hear you stopped wasting your money :)
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    They don't. They're just a way of capitalising on people wanting to lose weight.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    They make you poop out a lb or 2.

    That's it.
  • Jayj180894
    Jayj180894 Posts: 286 Member
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    It's crazy that something just as useful as a sugar pill can be advertised to help in weightloss!! Making billions a year on vulnerable people :disappointed:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Jayj180894 wrote: »
    It's crazy that something just as useful as a sugar pill can be advertised to help in weightloss!! Making billions a year on vulnerable people :disappointed:

    people want a quick fix... eating less and doing some exercise is too much like hard work!
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Most of them are basically legal speed.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    Advertising in the diet industry is poorly regulated and is full of false claims:

    http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=jlh
    Congress’s passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, however, shifted the balance of regulatory power in the diet industry toward the FTC, particularly where diet supplements are concerned. DSHEA essentially removed a class of compounds known as dietary supplements
    from the FDA’s pre-marketing approval process....

    This means that manufacturers can put dietary supplements on the market without first proving they work, and the primary method of enforcement is a false advertising claim. Unfortunately for the FTC, the organization seems to be fighting a losing battle: for each success, ten new companies seem to appear. With an increasing audacity, diet companies continue to disregard federal guidelines in order to promise a quick weight-loss fix, even though their products have no effect on weight-loss and can even be harmful. Each time a manufacturer succeeds with exaggerated promises, regulators say, a few more follow suit, “plastering the airwaves and the Internet with invitations to drop weight while driving, lose [ten] pounds in a weekend and, of course, never diet again.” FTC officials have conceded that the agency can do little to curb the increase in companies marketing fraudulent diet products.
  • Jayj180894
    Jayj180894 Posts: 286 Member
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    Really interesting guys! Thanks!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
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    It's insane to me that the Weight loss Industry is worth billions. I use to be one of those who tried weight loss pills and such but I didn't know about calorie counting back then!
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
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    savithny wrote: »
    Advertising in the diet industry is poorly regulated and is full of false claims:

    http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=jlh
    Congress’s passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, however, shifted the balance of regulatory power in the diet industry toward the FTC, particularly where diet supplements are concerned. DSHEA essentially removed a class of compounds known as dietary supplements
    from the FDA’s pre-marketing approval process....

    This means that manufacturers can put dietary supplements on the market without first proving they work, and the primary method of enforcement is a false advertising claim. Unfortunately for the FTC, the organization seems to be fighting a losing battle: for each success, ten new companies seem to appear. With an increasing audacity, diet companies continue to disregard federal guidelines in order to promise a quick weight-loss fix, even though their products have no effect on weight-loss and can even be harmful. Each time a manufacturer succeeds with exaggerated promises, regulators say, a few more follow suit, “plastering the airwaves and the Internet with invitations to drop weight while driving, lose [ten] pounds in a weekend and, of course, never diet again.” FTC officials have conceded that the agency can do little to curb the increase in companies marketing fraudulent diet products.

    I want to say the NYTimes did an expose in the last five years that revealed that a huge number of supplements on the market (including but not limited to diet pills) didn't even include the active ingredient listed on the bottle. I want to say most of them were garlic and sawdust. The current regulatory structure doesn't work at all.
  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
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    Over the counter diet pills are not as strictly regulated by the FDA. You often see disclaimers on them that say that their claimed benefits have "not been evaluated by the FDA" or such wording. Lots of people fall into the trap of believing OTC supplements are safer than say prescription diet pills (not advocating for prescription diet pills, it's definitely better not to take either) but prescription drugs are much more strictly regulated by the FDA...
    Also, with all the "new" (or so they claim) ingredients always advertised in the OTC diet pills how can anybody be sure they are safe as it is often years before long term side effects/problems are seen and finally connected to the source. Plus with the less strict regulations that dietary supplements fall under, FDA does not test/regulate them before they are marketed. Think about ephedra and how long it was around (with ephedra related deaths) before it was banned
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    As long as you market it as a "supplement" you can claim whatever you want about what it will do for you and the the FDA doesn't care.
  • RamboKitty87
    RamboKitty87 Posts: 272 Member
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    Weight loss / weight management is the biggest stress and worry in this world, so many companies are willing to take advantage of this and people fall for it all the time, over and over again, weight watchers and slimming world and other companies like that also take advantage, they teach you to count points/syns but not about counting calories, even the internet you have to filter out a lot of the BS to find decent websites for information, you can lose weight and maintain it for free by just watching your calorie intake and outtake, all you need is motivation and dedication, set little goals instead of focusing on the big goal. You can even go to the gym for free if you're frugal enough, sign up for a free 7 day gym pass to test the waters before paying for a membership or get a 7 day pass from a friend who is a member of the gym and just go round different gyms, youtube is also full of exercise videos, again you may need to filter out the bad ones but still all free, I have lost 88 lbs since January this year and all I have been doing is watching my calorie intake/outtake, walking and I borrowed my mums exercise bike (I'm never giving it her back lol) I won't lie there are times when you feel like giving up but you don't you take a rest day/maintenance day, have a cheat day or meal (not enough to wipe out your progress) and continue the next day, yes it can be hard work at the start but it gets easier, I am finally past that stage where I want to kill my partner for eating a burger and fries in the same room as me now haha! Sorry I rambled on there, I wish you all the best :)
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    They range from no effect except money loss to bad effect on health with money loss.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 1,049 Member
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    they don't. If you look at the label most say they work 'with dieting and regular exercise'
    they can also be super dangerous. An ex co-worker took some crazy diet pill and did lose 100 lbs, but now her heart is f-ed up and she needs medication and will most likely die from a heart attack before she hits 60.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    stanmann571 wrote: »

    2. Some provide appetite suppression via caffeine or other stimulants.
    3. Some provide increase metabolism burn via caffeine or other stimulants.

    Yup. That. And caffeine by itself is much cheaper than the diet pills anyway.

  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Jayj180894 wrote: »
    ..but wondered if they did actually do anything at all?

    usually- appetite suppressants. Most OTC ones are just caffeine.

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