| First Over the Counter Diet Pill Approved by FDA
I have a pretty bad opinion of weight loss pills, I am not convinced there is a magic bullet. Nor am I convinced that diet pills are the answer to losing weight. The FDA doesn't agree with me and has recently said the fat-blocking weight-loss pill Orlistat (aka Xenical), which has been available by prescription, can be sold in a reduced-strength version over the counter. The new version will be sold as alli (pronounced AL-eye by GlaxoSmithKline) and is the first nonprescription diet pill to be approved by the FDA. Alli is intended for people 18 and older to use along with a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet and exercise. Alli will contain half the dose of Xenical prescription capsules and is expected to run $1-$2 a day. The company estimated 5 million to 6 million Americans a year would buy the drug over the counter.
Cut calories — or do the wave 3200 times
Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be the second-biggest day for food consumption, next to Thanksgiving.
According to statistics from Southern Living magazine, more than 30 million pounds of snacks are consumed during the Super Bowl. I'm not sure if there's any real, hard data comparing this amount of food to Thanksgiving or other eating events, but I don't doubt that TV-watchers tend to consume a lot during the Super Bowl, and probably more of it is heavy, hearty fare.
A press release from Charles Stuart Platkin, author of "The Diet Detective's Count Down" (Simon & Schuster, 2007, $13), does some depressing math on how hard it's going to be to burn off the extra calories. (Leave it to the nutrition police to take the fun out of everything!)
Granted, you're not going to actually do all these suggested activities to mitigate the damage, and you probably won't want to serve only low-fat salads at your Super Bowl party.
Feds Approve OTC Diet Pill
(WASHINGTON) The nation's ongoing battle against obesity has a new weapon the first government-approved diet pill that can be bought without a prescription. Intended only for people 18 and older, the drug, called alli, is a reduced-strength version of the prescription diet drug Xenical. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced its approval of sales of the lower-dose drug without a prescription, with officials stressing that it needs to be used in combination with a diet and exercise program. "Using this drug alone is unlikely to be beneficial," said Dr. Charles Ganley, FDA's director of nonprescription products. The new drug will be sold by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and the company said it is expected to be in stores by summer. While the final price has not been determined, it is expected to be about $1- to $2-a-day.
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