The FDA Gives Me Gas With Oily Spotting
February 9, 2007 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Diets and Dieting, FDA, Food and Drink, Medicine, Treatment
The FDA recently approved a fat-blocking diet pill. Orlistat, aka Xenical was available by prescription before, but now you can get it over-the-counter in the form of alli. It comes with the following directions:
- Follow a well-balanced, reduced-calorie, low-fat diet. Try starting this diet before taking alli capsules.
And promises the following result:
- In studies, most people lost 5-10 pounds over 6 months.
So what’s the active ingredient in this pill, sugar? If anyone switches to a reduced-calorie low-fat diet they’ll lose 5-10 pounds over 6 months. So the FDA is basically handing approval over to snake-oil salesmen. (GlaxoSmithKline, by the way. So not just any snake-oil salesmen, these salesmen have a truck-load of money, which always helps with the FDA.)
So that’s sort-of upsetting, but here’s the best part. It’s a fat-absorption prevention drug, so it comes with a few caveats. Like the fact that you’re supposed to take a multi-vitamin every night while you’re on this drug to make up for the fat-soluble vitamins you’re missing. And, drum-roll please…
- You may get:
-gas with oily spotting
-loose stools
-more frequent stools that may be hard to control.
Are you effing kidding me, FDA? Let’s get this straight: You’re all good to go with an active drug that shows little to no evidence of the stated effect and that produces incontinence and vitamin deficiency? Well played, sirs.
You can also bet your bottom dollar that GSK will be running ads of fabulous looking people living skinny-happy lives on alli in a field of wheat somewhere. They sure as hell won’t be running ads about malnourished 16 year old girls (and this is who’s buying over-the-counter diet pills) passing out in gym class because they have no vitamins in their body or getting oily-spotting on their prom dresses that they took alli to be able to wear.
What a joke this government agency would be except for the fact that jokes are funny, and this just sucks.
Further Reading:
- Almost 20% of all FDA Scientist Asked to Commit Fraud
- FDA Study on Misleading Food Labels is… Misleading
- The Best FDA Satire, Ever (Video)
Good points and 100% accurate. Your body needs fats because certain vitamins and supplements are only absorbed when enough fats are present.
I guess all we can do is wait until the next presidential election and hope somebody gets in who fires everyone in the FDA, EPA, etc. and reconstitutes these agencies with intelligent people not beholden to big business. The Bush administrations have done so much damage to this country, sigh……
Wade, your article nailed it. Well done.
Hey Wade, thanks for posting this information. I am one of the people that are severly obese (even though most people disagree with me; but they dont know how much I weigh), and have seriously considered getting this pill. I just dont want to be running to the bathroom at work and phunking up the bathroom LOL!! Please contact me if you know of any products that I can use (over-the-counter or prescription) to help me lose weight, if you have that information. Thank you in advance!
This article is TOO true
I’ve tried this product, and it has given me oily spotting and loose stools, and i have to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes, and!!! it has a “baby-poop” smell, if you’ve changed diapers, you would know.
I have been using this product for a little longer than a month now and have been following the plan as directed along with running 1 mile daily and although I too have had oily spotting and loose stools I have lossed 8 pounds already..I did not suffer from ANY of the side effects on a day to day basis maybe once or twice a week and when the side effects do take place it’s kind of a warning telling you that you have ate something wrong thus giving you the motivation to continue eating healthy…this is by far the best over-the-counter dieting pill I have purchased I went from 180 to 172 within 2 months and plan on losing at least 40 more lbs with the help of Alli!
hahaa the baby poo smell is dead on.. i’ve tried it as well and got the oily spottings so i looked up the side effects in the little booklet that they give you and it says it is caused because i am supposed to eat only 15 fat calories per meal and any more i will have these such side effects
I can’t stop the oily stools, they just keep coming. They oily gas is the worst part. My girlfriend won’t even let me sleep in the same bed because the “baby poop smell” is so rough. Damn you Alli!!