New Diet pill: ALLI, is it for you?

Discussion about Alli
Are the Benefits of This Diet Pill Worth the Cost?
-- By Nicole Nichols, Fitness Instructor & Health Educator"

Alli" is the new buzzword in America. On June 15, Alli became the first FDA-approved diet pill that's available without a prescription. Despite its high price tag, uncomfortable side effects, and small potential benefits, it's been flying off the shelves Dieters are eager to try Alli, but is it right for you? Here's SparkPeople's take. What is Alli? Alli is a less potent version of the prescription diet pill, Xenical (orlistat). At half the dosage of the prescription version, experts feel that its potential for abuse and overall risk is low enough to be safe for over-the-counter use. You can expect to pay between $50 and $60 for a 30-day supply of Alli, which can be bought in supermarkets, drug stores, and even online.

How Does Alli Work? Put simply, Alli is a fat-blocker. You take a pill with each meal. The main ingredient in the pill binds with the digestive enzymes that would normally break down fat from the meal that you consumed. But because Alli attaches to these enzymes, it prevents them from digesting about 1/4 of the fat you just ate, allowing it to pass through the digestive system and out of the body, undigested and unabsorbed. Overall, fewer calories from dietary fat are stored as actual body fat. Sounds easy, right? There’s more to it than that. Alli isn’t a magic weight loss pill, and its makers don’t claim that it is. They are adamant that daily exercise, a reduced-calorie diet, and a specific diet plan that limits the amount of fat you eat accompany the use of Alli.

If you overeat on carbohydrates, protein and/or fat, you will not lose weight by taking Alli. If you eat more fat than recommended in a single meal (15 grams or less), you’ll experience some pretty embarrassing and serious side effects (see Pros & Cons below), and still might not lose weight by taking Alli. Just like any old weight loss plan, it involves counting and cutting calories, reading food labels, limiting high-fat foods, and exercising regularly. It takes will power, determination and consistency to see results.

What the Research Shows
Modest Results. Studies conducted by the company show that when using the Alli program (pills, diet and exercise) correctly, individuals can lose up to 50% more weight than dieting alone. They compared the Alli program with dieting only (not with dieting AND exercising), so it's hard to say whether these results come from Alli, the exercise component, or a combination of both. While 50% more weight sounds like a lot—here's an example. If you used the Alli program, you could lose 15 pounds instead of 10 pounds in the same amount of time. These results aren’t that dramatic—especially since you have to diet and exercise for it to work. In another study, dieters using the Alli program only lost three more pounds over the course of an entire year than people who dieted and exercised without taking the pill.

Not as Good as Xenical. The full-strength prescription version of orlistat, Xenical, hasn't lived up to its promise, according to data published by Consumer Reports. So how could the less potent Alli be any better? Data presented to the FDA suggest that the Alli program works best in those who are very overweight, but results are modest at best. In clinical trials, severely overweight subjects who took the drug for six months lost about five pounds more than those taking a placebo. In another four-month trial, moderately overweight people lost about 2-1/2 pounds more than the control group.

Short-Term Benefits. The modest benefits of Alli aren't likely to last in the long-term. Alli is marketed for short-term use only, and follow-up suggests that people start to regain weight once they stop taking it.

Generally Safe. According to a GlaxoSmithKline press release, the safety and efficacy of orlistat, which has been marketed as a prescription drug in the U.S. since 1999, is supported by more than 100 clinical studies. This includes the four-year landmark XENDOS trial, the longest study ever of a weight loss medicine. More than 22 million people in 145 countries have used orlistat.

Not for Everyone. Alli is for people over the age of 18 who are overweight. It is not for people at a healthy weight, or those trying to lose the last five or 10 pounds. Other people who cannot safely take Alli include: people taking cyclosporine, warfarin, and thyroid or diabetes medication; people who have had an organ transplant; women who are pregnant or breastfeeding; people who have problems absorbing food; people with thyroid disease, gallbladder problems, kidney stones, and/or pancreatitis; people who are allergic to any of Alli's ingredients; and people taking other weight loss products. Pros & ConsAt most, you could lose a few more ounces (1/4 to 1/3 of a pound) per week by using Alli, which is expensive and has some serious side effects. Is it really worth it?

You could lose more weight on the Alli program than from diet and exercise alone. But the amount of additional weight is small.

Alli's manufacturer is up front and honest about the potential side effects, which means that they won't come on as a surprise to users. Since Alli isn't a stimulant like other diet pills, it's not associated with any jitters, changes in energy levels, or insomnia. But its so-called "treatment effects" are embarrassing and negatively affect one's quality of life. Alli users experience loose stools, more frequent stools that are hard to control, an urgent need to use the bathroom, and increased gas with oily discharge. In other words, because the fat you are blocking has to go somewhere, you could experience uncontrollable diarrhea.

Alli is expensive. You can expect to pay between $1.50 and $2.00 per day to use Alli.
While Alli may help you lose a few extra pounds than lifestyle changes alone, little research exists to show what happens when you stop taking Alli. Experts predict that uses will re-gain the weight lost since the pill is doing the extra work for them.
Although there's a lot of buzz surrounding it, Alli isn't a magic weight loss pill. Diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes are a must for this pill to help you lose weight.