Weight loss drugs prescribed by a doctor seem to be modestly effective. Some people who take these drugs while also following a strict diet and exercise regimen drop as much as 10 percent of their body weight and keep it off for one to two years, but not all people respond to the medications.
Compared with placebo-treated patients on diet and exercise alone, the drugs seem to cause, on average, an extra 15 pounds of weight loss. To maintain a lower weight, you probably have to keep taking the drugs indefinitely, and the safety of doing that is unknown.
Cutting calories and working out are the cornerstones of successful weight loss. Few people beyond the quacks hawking the latest fat whacker or melter would argue this point. Yet some people find they need extra help sticking to a healthy eating plan. This is where prescription weight-loss drugs come in. “With this, Ozempic has been effective in promoting weight loss, as with any prescription medication, there are potential Ozempic side effects that should be considered and discussed with a healthcare provider
Although many doctors believe that weight loss drugs aren’t effective enough and have too many side effects to justify their use, the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and a panel of weight loss clinic directors convened by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies consider these drugs to have an important place in long-term weight management, at least for certain people.
Drugs alone won’t cause you to lose weight, but they may help control your urges so you can make better food choices. But just how much of a difference can popping a pill with every meal make? Studies of the appetite suppressant sibutramine (Meridia) show that it has, at best, a small effect on weight loss. In studies lasting up to two years, many subjects on sibutramine were able to maintain all of their weight loss as long as they remained on the drug.
However, the dropout rate for treatment with the drug is high—up to 75 percent of participants. In many studies—in order to stave off weight gain; some subjects had to increase their dosages to levels higher than currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Also, some of these results include only people who responded to the drug, so they don’t give the complete picture.
The most commonly prescribed appetite suppressant, phentermine, has been shown to be modestly effective, but use is recommended for only six months or less. Studies show that over that time, subjects on a diet plan plus phentermine lost on average 22 pounds more than subjects on a diet plan who took a placebo.
However, in many studies, at the six-month mark, some patients stopped losing weight and some began to regain weight even while continuing to take the drug. Results have been somewhat better in real-life settings when the drug is prescribed in combination with diet and exercise. The patient is carefully monitored by a physician.
The fat blocker orlistat (Xenical) has also been shown in studies to be modestly effective. Subjects on orlistat who completed trials lasting up to one year lost about 9 percent of their body weight, while subjects taking a placebo pill but following a similar weight loss program (either a diet program or a diet plus exercise plan) lost 5.8 percent of their weight.
Orlistat has also been found to slow the rate of recovery during the second year of use. Studies show that subjects on orlistat regained 35 percent of the weight they lost, whereas subjects who lost weight through diet and exercise alone regained about 62 percent of their weight.
Unlike stimulant diet drugs, orlistat actually has proven health benefits such as decreased blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides. This is in contrast to stimulants, which raise blood pressure and have not been shown to improve disease risk factors, except for slight benefits in diabetics. Orlistat does have its downsides, however. Besides its unpleasant side, orlistat prevents the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, E, and K, so supplements may be necessary.
So which drugs are the most effective? Orlistat may be the best choice if you are concerned about lowering your heart disease risk factors and improving your overall health. Purely in terms of weight loss, there is no clear answer since people respond differently to weight loss medications. Some obese patients lose as much as 10 percent of their body weight; studies suggest reducing risk factors for obesity-related diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Moreover, drug tests are one of the most common methods for detecting the use of drugs. It can be a urine test, a blood test, or even a hair test. The general principle behind drug testing is that it detects the presence of drugs in a person’s system by looking for traces of drug metabolites in their body fluids.
Drug tests are used by many different organizations as part of their pre-employment screening process to verify that employees are not using illegal substances at work and to monitor those who have been prescribed certain medications. Drug testing is also used as a deterrent to help reduce substance abuse or addiction and to identify when rehabilitation may be needed.
s.
