Can FDA Approved Diet Drug Belviq Really Cure National Epidemic Obesity?

OMG! There comes another big promise from the big pharma and government to save the overweight and obese Americans.

FDA just approved another new diet pill for doctors to prescribe to obese patients.

There is the news article from New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/health/diet-drug-gains-fda-endorsement.html

The new drug is called Belviq.

The FDA had denied approval for this drug in 2010 when scientist showed concerns that the drug may actually cause tumors in people.

Tumors!

The FDA just approved this drug after "new information" was produced by the manufacture.

Mmmm, some kind of conspiracy?

The studies show that this drug has helped obese people lose as much as 5% of their body weight within a year.

That means that a 300 lbs obese woman can lose as much as 15 pounds in a year.

15 pounds or 5% weight loss in a year?

Give me a 300 Lbs woman and I'll help her lose 15 pounds in 2-3 weeks by two simple tweaks by adding 15-20 minutes of walking to her lifestyle and removing some starches from her diet

You and I know that what you do and how you do it is the ultimate fat loss solution becuase you teach a lifestyle change, exercise, and good nutrition.

But the general public doesn't care.

All they're going to see is the ten o'clock news when the talking heads tell them that the FDA has approved a new weight loss pill.

Then they're going to see the TV ads from this drug company touting the new weight loss drug and encouraging them to "ask your doctor about it".

The public is going to see hope in this drug.

But you have an ethical obligation to educate and enlighten your clients, prospects and community on this new drug and how like all other drugs that were once approved and are now banned, this may end up the same way.

And that ultimately the hope of losing 5% of your body weight within a year shouldn't outweigh the risk of side effects like potential TUMORS.

Other side effects?

Including serotonin syndrome - a potentially life-threatening drug reaction that causes the body to produce too much serotonin and causes symptoms of agitation, diarrhea, heavy sweating, fever, muscle spasms, tremors or mental health changes. People taking antidepressants or migraine drugs that increase serotonin levels may be at an increased risk for this side effect. The drug may also cause "disturbances in attention or memory, according to FDA.

Use with caution in people who have congestive heart failure, according to the FDA.

Math Is Boring But Can Help You Lose Weight and Conquer Epidemic Obesity Rate

Do you know what a mathematician finds out to solve the obesity problem?

Dr. Carson Chow is an MIT-trained mathematician and physicist. He was a faculty of the math department at the University of Pittisburgh. Recently he works for National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease – a branch of the National Institutes of Health. He’s in charge of a project trying to figure out why 2 in 3 Americans are overweight, 1 in 3 are obese.

Consider the facts:

- Between 1975 and 2005, the average weight of Americans had increased by about 20 pounds.

- Since the 1970s, the national obesity rate had jumped from around 20 percent to over 30 percent.

- The levels of physical activity have not really changes in the past 30 years.

After crunching large volume of numbers, he finally developed a mathematical model to answer a host of questions about weight loss. The mathematical equation says:

- The conventional widsom of 3500 calories less is what it takes to lose a pound of weight is wrong! It’s not a constant as your body changes when you lose weight.

- The fatter you get, the easier it is to gain weight.

- If you eat 100 calories fewer a day, you will lose 10 pounds on the average in 3 years – if you don’t cheat.

- Large variations in daily food intake will not cause variation in weight as long as the average food intake over a year is about the same, because your body responds slowly to food intake.

- All diets work. But the reaction time is really slow, on the order of a year. Most people aren’t patient and wait long enough to see what they’re doing to stabilize their weight.

His conclusion?

Overproduction of food in the United States.

Since the 1970s, the government changed agricultural policy to promote farming to full production. The price of foods went down and the number of calories available to the average American increased by about 1000 a day!

Well, what do think people do with that extra 1000 calories? They eat it, of course. If you know that Americans are already wasting a lot of foods, obesity would be even worse if they eat them all.

Take-away Message

Watch what you eat and how much you eat and when.

If you’re interested in learning how to use the mathematician’s equation, go to NIH site below for the Body Weight Simulator.

http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/