Medication Therapies – The Science & Medicine
Your Appetite Control System
Our bodies use complex systems to control appetite, the desire for food and body weight. There are systems in our brain that collect information about body weight, temperature, activity level, season, reproductive cycle, food availability, and expected energy needs to decide how much food is required today. Those systems are designed to use the most efficient way to reliably get food, and then to lock in the behavior and repeat it without further modification. Our appetite system tends to run automatically and defies conscious attempts to alter it.
The hypothalamus is a key brain region that receives chemical data from the blood and messages from various regulatory tissues in the body including insulin, sex hormones, and peptides secreted by the gastrointestinal track as it processes the food that you eat. The hypothalamus is also the brain link to the body's hormonal network, regulating the pituitary gland, which in turn regulates the endocrine glands. Hormones are the blood-born molecules that regulate our metabolic and reproductive functions. The ingestion, digestion, and metabolism of food is one the chief concerns of the endocrine system. There are numerous opportunities for this regulatory system to fail. Often appetite and weight regulation is unstable for short periods of weeks but produces dramatic, lasting changes in size and shape.
Diet Medications & Appetite Suppressants?
When our appetite systems begin to fail, the chemicals in our brains become unbalanced. These chemicals, called neurotransmitters, need to be replenished in order for the balance to be restored. Prescription diet medications and supplements, when used in conjunction with a healthful diet and daily exercise, have been proven to assist in weight loss. Some of these diet medications are designed for short term use, whereas others are acceptable for longer term use. There are several categories of diet medications, supplements, and injections that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of obesity:
- Appetite Suppressant Prescription Medications
- Craving Control and Mood Enhancing Supplements
- Energy Boosting B-12 and Fat Burning Lipotropic Injections
Visit the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for information about all drugs, including diet medications. Consult the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Warnings and Safety Information pages to learn about recent diet pills alerts, diet supplements alerts and other diet product warnings.
Taking Less Medication
Diet medications and supplements have also been known to be beneficial to the health of people with obesity problems by lowering their risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and blood fats. By taking weight loss medications such as appetite suppressants, patients are able to lose weight and get their blood pressure and cholesterol under control; thus eliminating the need to take other medications for those ailments.
Before deciding on a weight loss program, or your choice of diet medications, you should always consult with your doctor, and be checked out first. Also be sure to let your doctor know of any other types of medication you may be on, including diet related, in case of any interactions that may occur.
Do Weight Loss Diet Pills Work?
Several weight loss medications are available that, in general, are modestly effective, leading to an average weight loss of 5 to 22 pounds above that expected with non-drug treatments. People respond differently to weight loss medications, and some people experience more weight loss than others. Some patients using medication lose more than 10 percent of their starting body weight—an amount of weight loss that may reduce risk factors for obesity-related diseases, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Maximum weight loss usually occurs within 6 months of starting medication treatment. Weight then tends to level off or increase during the remainder of treatment. Studies suggest that if a patient does not lose at least 4 pounds over 4 weeks on a particular medication, then that medication is unlikely to help the patient achieve significant weight loss.
Some antidepressant medications have been studied as appetite-suppressant medications. While these medications are FDA approved for the treatment of depression, their use in weight loss is an "off-label" use. Studies of these medications generally have found that patients lost modest amounts of weight for up to 6 months. However, most studies have found that patients who lost weight while taking antidepressant medications tended to regain weight while they were still on the drug treatment.
NOTE: Amphetamines and closely related compounds are not recommended for use in the treatment of obesity due to their potential for abuse and dependence.
Non-Prescription Diet Pills
There are now many "non prescription" weight loss diet pill products on the market that claim their ingredients can actually help overweight men and women lose weight and fat, but without any potential dangerous side effects.
Our experienced medical staff recommends only those products that are FDA approved; have undergone rigorous testing and have proven effective.
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