Acomplia Diet Pill Pulled Back from FDA

The advisory channel to the FDA voted that the agency should not approve it due to the psychiatric risks observed from the use of Acomplia/Zimulti, the diet pill scientifically known as rimonabant from Sanofi-aventis.

Its company has withdrawn its application for U.S. approval because they lacked the time to fix the problems.

Marc Cluzel, a senior vice president of scientific and medical affairs at Sanofi, said on the conference call that the company is committed to getting the medicine approved in the U.S. Sanofi will meet with the regulator soon to try to better understand what’s needed to prove the drug’s safety, he said.

You Need to Take Alli Diet Pills with What?

Aside from usual side digestive system effects from weight loss pills such as gas and diarrhea, users of Alli should also take note of another side effect – vitamin deficiency.

This is because as Alli reduces absorption of fat in the gastrointestinal system, it also decreases the absorption of vitamins.

So according to Dr. David Westbrock, New Profile Weight Management Center’s director and an endocrinologist, it’s important to also take vitamin supplements while using this diet pill.

If you’d like to learn more about Alli, you might want to read “Are You Losing It?” Alli’s diet book.

Tags: Alli, vitamins, diet pill, side effects

Portion Control Plates: Weight Loss Tool

As an answer to lack of education on what’s the ideal portion of food for each person, weight management experts came up with a new tool for weight loss – Portion-Control Dishes.

Dr. Pedersen’s team conducted a six-month study of commercially available portion control plates and bowls in 2004. The plates were divided into sections that marked appropriate portions for carbohydrates, proteins, cheese and sauce, with the rest left open for vegetables.

“The weight loss that we saw in this study is similar to weight loss seen in studies of medications for weight loss — but without the associated potential for side effects and at a fraction of the cost,” Pedersen told CTV Newsnet from Calgary.

The sections approximately totaled an 800-calorie meal for men and a 650-calorie meal for women. The cereal bowl was designed to allow a 200-calorie meal of cereal and milk.

The diet plate has line markings to delineate proper portion sizes for meats, starches and vegetables. The main aim of this tool is to help obese patients control their calorie consumption to improve weight loss results and to control the blood sugar levels of those with Type 2 diabetes.

via CTV

Tags: diet plate, weight loss, portion size, diabetes, blood sugar