Betrayed by Alli: Can This Popular Pill Ruin Your Health?

Aug 26, 2009

Alli was supposed to be the friendly supplement next door. It lured us in with its colorful font and friendly advertisements, promising a “safe” and sensible approach to weight loss—with a little enzyme blocking help of course. Sadly, as with most weight loss drugs, our high hopes were bound to become replaced by FDA warnings and health concerns for little things like oh, you know liver failure.

If you have not heard the details, the FDA recently issued a statement about Orlistat aka Alli being responsible for 32 cases of serious liver injury, including 6 cases of liver failure! Hmm… all of a sudden that mellow Wynonna Judd commercial has lost its appeal. It’s not like Alli hasn’t always had its share of side-effects, but runny stools were one thing; a nonfunctional liver is a whole different story. I guess in the world of Alli, weight loss and jaundice go hand in hand.

I’m sure the news has shocked many of us because, after all, Alli was supposed to be “different”. Not only was it FDA approved, but unlike other weight loss drugs, it worked its magic in the digestive tract not on the nervous system. Unfortunately, FDA approval means it was safe for the extent of the clinical trial. When it comes to long-term use, the FDA’s guess is as good as ours. As for the digestive tract, organ damage is organ damage. Whether it’s the heart or the liver we are still going to end up six feet under when either one suffers irreparable damage.

Your best bet is to stay away from the weight loss aisle altogether because in the world of weight loss supplements there is no winning, unless your idea of a prize is a damaged liver.

Have you ever had a bad experience with a weight loss supplement?

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Comments

From: Anonymous.Poster
Date: 10/23/2009 - 08:24 pm

Yes, mizzjustina I remember those chips now that you bring them up. I was pretty young and I wanted them but my mom said "No way!" even though she had me on a diet at the time. Since then I grew up and evened out and was pretty happy with my weight until I was forced to take birth control pills recently and put on 15-20 lbs! I know the weight will come off once I stop taking them (that's what happened when I took the Depo shot - even tyhough I only gained 5-10 lbs that time), but I can't stop taking it for a while and I have a trip planned soon where I'll be seeing an old friend who used to be my size (7) and has now shot down to a size 3! Because of my recent weight gain, I'm currently squeezing into size 9 and would really like to lose a bit of weight before I see her. I have a month supply of Alli that I got because my husband works for the company that makes it and he gets products with damaged packaging for free. So I'm wondering if I'll be safe taking just that month's supply in order to help me los a bit more weigh than diet and excersize in the month or so before my trip. I imagine that the clinical trial too place over at least a month! And I don't think I'd be willing to put up with the annoying side effects for more than amonth anyway, but I already have some health issues (spinal cord injury five years ago that causes me to now walk with a cane) so liver failure is realy not somethig I need! But it seems like this article was implying that liver issues were caused by more log-term use of Alli. Did I interpret that correctly? What do you guys think I should do?

From: momof3kidz
Date: 09/06/2009 - 02:03 pm

I am bummed! Im already eating healthy and losing weight but I thought this product would give me an edge! Now I am afraid to get another bottle!

From: mizzjustina
Date: 08/27/2009 - 07:33 am

does anyone else remember back in 1996-97 years ago when they made a brand of potato chips with this i think it was Lays, anyway whenever i ate them they had me running to the bathroom and i did not know why.i continued buying them because of there low fat claim but after awhile i could not handle the frequent bathroom trips plus they eventually took them off the market. funny how years later the would put it in a pill that can kill people

From: Anonymous.Poster
Date: 08/26/2009 - 11:14 am

I took this drug when it was prescribed by a doctor. This had to be the worst type of diet pill I had ever taken. All I did was live in the toilet no matter what I ate and I surely was watching what I was eating because of the side effects. I would not recommend this pill to anyone because of the side effects and what the long term results could end up being. This is a NASTY drug.

From: Anonymous.Poster
Date: 08/26/2009 - 11:14 am

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