Gotta problem? Take a pill.

I just read an article that has made me furious. No, it wasn't the Olsen Twins revealing their $39,000 backpack, which by the way, I hope comes stuffed with $38,900 of cash. It was the report that the FDA for the first time in 13 years has approved a new weight loss drug. Why would this make me furious? Well, first of all I don't believe that pharmaceuticals are the answer to many of our health problems, and a look at this article exemplifies why. All sections in bold below are quotes taken from the Reuters news article on the approval of the new drug, Belviq.

Due to safety concerns and deaths in the past resulting from previous weight loss drugs, the FDA has set the bar higher for its approval process of such drugs. But since America is getting more and more obese, the FDA has been under pressure to approve a new drug to combat obesity. Seems like a good reason to lower your standards, right? Peer pressure?

"It appears that the agency's view has officially shifted towards 'not treating obesity is a risk in and of itself, so we're willing to put drugs in the market in order to help people lose weight, even if there's risk associated'," Cowen and Co analyst Simos Simeonidis said in a research note.


I could see this line of reasoning if there was no other way for people to lose weight. The thing is, there is already a way for people to lose weight and combat obesity, and it is extremely low risk. Actually, doing it lowers your risks for multiple other factors, like heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes.


Wall Street sees a successful new diet drug raking in billions of dollars.


Bingo. Money talks in this country, and much more loudly than the voice of reason. Pharmaceutical companies spend a gazillion (give or take a dillion) on marketing and convincing the public, and doctors, to use their medications. 


Belviq is designed to block appetite signals in the brain to help people feel full after eating smaller amounts of food. In large clinical trials, patients on average lost about 5 percent of body weight. The drug's FDA-approved label says Belviq use should be stopped if a patient has not reached 5 percent weight loss after 12 weeks of daily use.


I read this and my jaw hit the floor. The results of a large clinical trial were that people lost about 5% of their body weight? Are you kidding me? Lets look at the numbers on that. Take a woman who is 5' 5" and weighs 250 lbs. Her BMI would be 41.6 and she would be considered obese, which is who this drug is targeted towards. Now if she took the pill and lost 5% of her body weight over a 12 week period, she would have lost 12.5 lbs, or about 1 pound per week. Hmmm, this is EXACTLY how much weight one would lose if they were doing the thing I mentioned above- you know, the one with low to no risk? The one that, when done, lowers your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol, to name a few? 


Arena will have to conduct six follow-up studies, including a long-term study of whether Belviq increases the risk of heart attack or stroke, the FDA said.


This is great. How about we find that out before we approve the drug and put it on the market? I'm fine with this approach if we're talking about an experimental drug for people with a terminal illness, sure, what have you got to lose. But a weight loss drug? This is the whole reason the FDA has been reluctant to approve these types of drugs, because of the risks involved. But I mean, it is well worth the risk, right? Possibly greater risk for heart attacks and strokes, but you could lose 5% of your body weight! (Note: I'm being sarcastic in that last part).


This is what is so wrong with our approach to our health in this country. That magical thing I alluded to above, the one that has equal if not better results than this pill can muster, and does so without needing any follow up studies to see if it will kill you? Guess what it is? Diet and exercise! (Surprise, right?) And by "diet" I don't mean some wacky restrictive fad diet, that doesn't let you eat carbs, or eat all the ice cream you want and still lose weight, or any of that other bogus crap the "diet industry" comes up with every year. No, I'm just talking about what you eat. The foods that make up your, well, diet. Eat well. Run a reasonable calorie deficit. Exercise. Repeat. 


Unfortunately people think that is too difficult, or that it won't work. I've heard countless people say "I've tried every diet out there and they don't work. I lose the weight but then I just put it back on." Yes, that is because, and let me be very clear about this: DIETS DO NOT WORK. You know why people put the weight back on? Because they didn't change their behavior. They didn't change their lifestyle. All they did was follow a program for a few weeks, then go back to their old ways. 


Why would it be any different for someone taking a pill for 12 weeks? It wouldn't. 


There are no shortcuts to wellness. There is no easy way to go from being unhealthy to healthy in a matter of a few weeks. If you see some diet or product that says you can lose 20 lbs in 20 days, or some other such claim? Run in the other direction. Immediately. And keep running, because running is good for you. 


Think about it: if there was an easy solution to weight loss out there that actually worked, wouldn't everyone know about it? Wouldn't that stop the endless cascade of new diets and products that flood the market every year promising amazing weight loss results? The diets and products keep coming out because they don't work, and they also happen to make the people who sell them a ton of money. Funny how that works.


It takes many days, that turn into months, that turn into years, of us making bad health choices that lead to us gaining weight. The only thing that will undo that is many days, that turn into months, that turn into years, of us making good choices for our health. That is how you lose weight. I know this. I'm one of the rare people who lost the weight (61 pounds as I write this), and kept it off. And I did it without the aid of any gimmicks or diets.


Belviq is not medicine. Food is medicine.


Be well.


Seth