Weight-Loss Pill Withdrawn By Maker

It looks like another "magic pill" has bit the dust.   The Food & Drug Administration announced last Friday that the drug-maker Abbott Laboratories has agreed to take their weight-loss drug Meridia (sibutramine HCl monohydrate) off the market.   Abbott had claimed the drug would increase weight loss when used in conjunction with diet and exercise.   But the drug turned out to be more dangerous than helpful.

The drug was used by more than 8 million people worldwide (over 100,000 Americans) and was projected to have $30 million in sales this year.   The problem was it had some rather nasty side-effects -- it significantly increased the risk of strokes and heart attacks in its users.

When I was a young man the "magic pill" for weight loss was amphetamine.   It worked by taking a person's appetite away.   Then after a while doctors and others realized that amphetamines, while good appetite suppressors, also came with a bad side.   The euphoric feeling they gave a user lured many into overuse and destroyed their overall health.

There is a weight problem among Americans.   A recent Gallup poll stated that slightly over 26% of the people in this country are obese.   That amounts to a fairly serious health problem.   People in America (and elsewhere) spend billions of dollars each year on medications, diets, machines and fraudulent schemes in an effort to find an easy way to lose weight.

Sadly, there is no easy way -- no magic bullet or shortcut to solve obesity.   The simple biological fact is that if you take more calories into your body than your body can burn, then you will put on weight.   If you take in less calories than you burn, you will lose weight.   And a person who exercises will burn more calories than a person who doesn't.

There's an old saying that if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is not true.   The same holds true for weight-loss products.   There are no easy solutions for weight-loss.   It has to be done the old-fashioned way -- cut the calorie intake and do a reasonable exercise regimen.   That's just the way it is.