In the United States obesity is the largest epidemic that plays a role in many diseases since it increases blood pressure, cardiac output, and many other systemic effects. It can result in diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes. Obesity is mainly caused by excessive eating resulting in too many calories consumed and not expending an equal amount of calories. Doctors prescribe their patients to lower their caloric intake and exercise more to have more calories expended than consumed.
With today's economy people feel like all their energy needs to go to work and when they get home they don't have the energy to go to the gym. Since people are putting exercise on the back burner, they are trying to find the easy way to lose weight. This opens up a huge supplement industry that only has to trick their customers into believing that their supplement works. Supplements don't need to be FDA approved which allows companies to hide what they are putting into them.
The newest weight loss supplement called Garcinia cambogia has the compound hydrocitric acid in it that blocks the enzyme ATP-citratelyase, inhibiting lipogenesis. Without this enzyme carbohydrates and sugars cannot be converted into fats for storage. In a study of the long term effects with this supplement it was found that visceral fat accumulation and adipocyte size decreased by inhibiting the fatty acid synthase and the mRNA expression of the adipose tissue. Also, gene expression and enzyme enhancement in fatty acid beta oxidation is increased with this supplement. But the problem that no one seems to have heard in this miracle weight loss supplement is that it induces hepatic fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress.
Do these positive side effects out way the negative side effects? Well, most people taking this supplement have not heard of these negative effects because FDA does not regulate the supplement industry. I believe that there are safer ways to burn off those extra calories even though it might take more work and time. So be sure to do your research before believing the so called "supplement doctors."
Kim Y, Choi M, Park Y, Kim S, Lee M, Jung U. 2013. Garcinia Cambogia attenuates diet-induced adiposity but exacerbates hepatic collagen accumulation and inflammation. World J Gastroenterol. 19(29):4689-4701.
Vasques C, Schneider R, Klein-Junior L, Falavigna A, Piazza I, Rossetto S. 2013. Hypolipemic effect of garcinia cambogia in obese women. Phytother Res. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5076.
There are many reasons I am against the use of weight loss supplements. All of these reasons stem from the problem that you addressed, how the FDA does not regulate them. Since they are not monitored, many of these supplements are packed with unknown concentrations of stimulants. Stimulants are extremely powerful in terms of its effect on the body and has been shown in many studies to increase heart attacks and strokes. Speaking of studies, since the FDA is not conducting any of them, the intensive clinical trials that should be routinely done are not. Therefore, the only way to be able to remove many of these drugs off the market is if the FDA runs its own experiments on them to find real potential dangers. One last concern that I have is directed toward children. With childhood obesity on the rise, it is no surprise that these industries are labeling their supplements as acceptable for humans as young as the age of 2!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you on that if someone is going to take these they make sure to do adequate research on them. I would also suggest that the people who take these really weigh the cost and benefits of taking them and try re-evaluate their life in terms of making time for exercise and healthier food choices.
Here is another article that looks at a few other supplements and the risks they pose.
http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/natural-remedies/diet-pill-dangers-truth-behind-weight-loss-supplements
Avoiding the FDA by one or the other is definitely problematic for the consumer. Not only are they' sucked into the "miracle pill" shenanigan without knowing the aforementioned side effects, but they are sucked into a ruse that had relatively no regulation. The FDA is notoriously slow for approving other things, which proves detrimental for drugs based on extensive scientific research, such as cancer drugs.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, you bring up a great point about learning what's in your supplements; I know so many people that hop on every chance for these "magic bullets" to weight loss, but that know nothing about the science behind it. The fault isn't necessarily to blame on the consumer, I guess it's up to Graham Whinery to debunk the supplements!