FDA and Weight Loss Protection?

For a long time we have been telling you how the cozy relationship between the FDA and the drug companies negatively impacts on your health and how hard the FDA comes down on nutritional companies.

Here are two recent announcements by the FDA on weight-loss products —- one a drug and the other a nutritional supplement:

ANNOUNCEMENT ONE:

Giving giant drug companies a free pass. 

Last month, FDA officials announced a safety information review for orlistat, a weight-loss aid.

You probably know this drug by the brand name Alli, made by GlaxoSmithKline. It’s also sold at higher dosage as a prescription drug called Xenical, made by Roche.

At issue are 32 reports of “serious liver injury,” which include six cases of liver failure and 27 cases of hospitalization.

The FDA press release states: “FDA is not advising healthcare professionals to change their prescribing practices with orlistat.”

The agency also advises consumers to continue taking Alli and Xenical as directed.

ANNOUNCEMENT TWO:

A very different and very tough stance by the FDA if you are not a drug company but a supplement maker offering a similar end use product.

This past May, the FDA issued a consumer warning about several (but not all) Hydroxycut weight-loss products. All of these are non-drug items, available over-the-counter.

At issue are 23 reports of liver problems, ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes (indicators of potential liver injury) to one death due to liver failure.

The FDA warning stated: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to immediately stop using Hydroxycut products”.

There it is, your FDA always looking out for your interest.

Heaven save us from their protection.

To your good heath & longevity.

Ira Marxe
“The Good Health & Wellness Guy”

Copyrighted © 2009 – All Rights Reserved

This week there has been several articles written about obesity and the medical costs associated with treating this major health problem.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Monday, July 27th, 2009 that new data is showing that costs have topped $147 billion in 2008 alone.

Costs have doubled in the past decade to treat obesity and per a Wall Street Journal article”…the prevalence of obesity rose 37% between 1998 and 2006, and medical costs climbed to about 9.1% of all U.S. medical costs, the researchers said”…and…”obese people spent 42% more than people of normal weight on medical costs in 2006, a difference of $1,429, the study found. Prescription drugs accounted for much of the increase.”

To help shed more light on this topic here are several current news articles that span a wide mixture of opinions on the obesity topic.

• Please Explain: Obesity
• Rising Childhood Obesity
• More on Obesity: Is the Government to Blame?
• The Thins Versus the Fats
• Do ‘Fat Taxes’ Work?

To your good heath & longevity.

Ira Marxe
“The Good Health & Wellness Guy”

Copyrighted © 2009 – All Rights Reserved