Weight loss pills are ‘greatest threat to modern life – and could send you to an early grave’, heart doc warns
Lorcaserin, the newly reviewed weight loss drug, may have got the all-clear over in America but our experts aren't so sure...
IMAGINE a world in which you never had to diet or workout - you simply popped a pill and the fat melted away.
Well, if a new study is to be believed, we're not too far from that becoming a reality.
This week saw the findings of a review confirm that the drug Lorcaserin (known as Belviq) may well help people to lose weight by stimulating brain chemicals to give a feeling of fullness.
Over 40 months, those on the drug were three times more likely to have lost 5-10 per cent of their body weight than those using a placebo - an average of 9lbs over three years.
Hailed as a potential "holy grail" in the fight against flab, 12,000 people were put on the £225-a-month drug in the US, with scientists saying that it's the first weight-loss drug deemed safe for heart health.
This isn't the first "miracle" drug of its kind, but it is supposed to be unique in that it doesn't come with any serious risk to heart health.
Extortionate price aside, that sounds like a miracle, right?
NHS cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra and Harley Street nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert aren't so sure.
In fact, Dr Malhotra told The Sun that "prescription drugs like Lorcaserin are the greatest threat to modern medicine".
"The result is a nation of over-medicated sugar addicts who are eating and pill-popping their way to years of misery, battling chronic disease and probably an early grave.
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"Instead of dishing out prescriptions for pills we need to give doctors the power to prescribe lifestyle medicines.
"They should be able to prescribe better diets, exercise, a good night's sleep. Drugs cannot fix everything."
Dr Malhotra also questions just how impressive the results of the Lorcaserin study genuinely were.
"Apparently, participants who took the pill during a major US study lost an average of 4kg in 40 months.
"But really, the results are very marginal, almost laughable, so why on earth is everyone getting so excited?
"Most of my patients would lose far more within weeks of making one or two very simple changes in their diet, by cutting out heavily processed foods and sugar, a daily 30-minute walk and perhaps by hitting the gym every now and then.
Prescription drugs like Lorcaserin are the greatest threat to modern medicine
NHS cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra
"Popping a diet pill is not the answer - they can, in fact, be incredibly dangerous.
"Yes, you may see some weight loss but you will NOT be healthier.
"As a nation, we need to completely overhaul our behaviour when it comes to food and drink.
We need to eat not just less - but better.
"We need to cut out processed foods, junk foods with carbohydrates and sugar. Avoid McDonald's. Avoid the vending machines with Mars Bars and sugary drinks.
"Instead, we should be eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, getting in our healthy, saturated fats, fibre and protein.
"Foods that give us energy to last the day, make us feel full and help fend off obesity as well as diseases like cancer, diabetes, even Alzheimer's."
Meanwhile, Rhiannon told us that after a little digging, she "realised Belviq's maker, Eisai Inc., sponsored the study and many of the researchers consult or work for the company".
"No such independent studies exist! In the small print, even their own researchers say it 'may be best used on a cautious basis'."
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Importantly, the drug doesn't yet have a European license; in the UK, it'd have to be approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellent (NICE) before it could be prescribed.
And it doesn't sound like the NHS is too keen to push for that to happen.
In fact, Rhiannon points out, the NHS seems to agree with the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), suggesting that "although a modest benefit in terms of weight loss was seen...the Committee was concerned about the potential risk of tumours...other safety concerns, including the risk of psychiatric disorders (such as depression) and valvulopathy (problems with heart valves).
"Therefore... the CHMP was of the opinion that the benefits of Belviq did not outweigh its risks."
Rhiannon said: "Ultimately, as long as Belviq's makers are 'not able to address all of the CHMP's concerns', there's no holy grail diet pill for me!"
With the obesity crisis growing ever more serious, there's little doubt that companies are going to devote more time and money to developing a totally safe and effective diet pill.
But it seems doubtful that we're there yet.
For years, pharmaceutical companies and the diet industry have tried to persuade us that there's a way to cheat biology.
GPs have been (rightfully) nervous about dishing out anti-obesity drugs because so many have come with serious health compromises - later being withdrawn from sale after they've been found to increase the risk of heart valve damage and poor mental health.
A study by the National Institute of Mental Health claimed that users of widely prescribed diet pills "may suffer irreversible loss of brain serotonin nerve terminals, possibly resulting in symptoms of anxiety, depression, cognitive and sleep problems".
And that's before we consider the mental health damage done simply by taking something believed to help you lose weight.
Losing weight is often a massive effort and can be a huge burden mentally; it can often come from a deflated sense of self-worth.
Often, that's offset by the endorphins eventually released through exercise, and the energy boost from eating healthily.
Cut those steps out by giving people pills to take instead, and you may end up with a host of people frustrated at slow progress with none of the feel-good factor of having worked for it.
Exercise and healthy eating come with all kinds of benefits other than pure weight loss.
As well as setting us up for fat burning, healthy foods present us with a host of vitamins and minerals necessary for muscle repair, growth, healthy eyes, nails, hair, skin, organ function. Exercise keeps our muscles strong, our metabolism ticking over, our moods heightened.
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"The idea of nourish your mind and body works because it's not a diet or a quick fix: it's a way of life!" Rhiannon concluded.
We don't know enough about the long-term health challenges diet drugs present, and it is true that we have to come up with a solution for the ever-increasing waistband of this country and others like it.
Dr Malhotra added: "Think before you accept a prescription for a diet pill. Even if like this one, it may have few side effects, do you really want to be taking a pill for the rest of your life?
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"Can you not just make one or two small changes to your lifestyle instead?
"Reducing the amount of sugar you eat is far more powerful than any prescription your GP can give you. If you can do it, you will not only lose those stubborn extra pounds but if you will live longer and healthier as well."
Unfortunately, there's only one weight loss method that has been tried, tested and lasted the course - and that is to move more and eat less of the "bad" stuff.
And there's no magic pill that can do that for you.
Bily Kuo, Associate Director of Communications for Eisai Inc. (the company behind Belviq) told The Sun: "The study CAMELLIA-TIMI 61 met its primary safety objective and met the US Federal Drug Administration mandated criteria for cardiovascular safety, finding that long-term treatment with lorcaserin (Belviq®) did not increase the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events in overweight and obese patients at high risk for a cardiovascular event.
"Eisai Inc. supported the trial CAMELLIA-TIMI 61. Disclosure forms provided by the study authors are available with the full text of the study which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine."
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