Robert asked:


One of the latest methods of promoting weight loss, diet pills were originally designed to suppress the appetite so as to keep eating itself under control. Newer diet pills work by helping the body to burn fat or carbohydrates. The companies who make these diet pills always make claims as to their efficacy and safety, but how can one be sure that they live up to the promises made by their manufacturers? In short: are diet pills safe to take?

How Diet Pills Work

While all diet pills claim that they are safe and even beneficial to your health, many questions remain about what kind of short and long term effects using diet pills can have on your body.

Diet pills which work by suppressing the appetite tend to be merely caffeine, albeit in large doses. Caffeine naturally has appetite suppressant properties, but of course also has well known side effects such as nervousness, shakiness and difficulty sleeping. Large doses of caffeine over time may also negatively impact blood sugar levels.

There are diet pills which get around the known side effects of caffeine by instead using artificial stimulants in their products. However, these are often more harmful than caffeine. Ephedra, for instance, can bring on heart attacks in those who take this particular drug. Ephedra can also have a detrimental effect on the circulatory system – as such, this particular chemical is more dangerous than is a diet pill which is caffeine based.

In spite of these warnings and dangerous chemicals, the diet pill industry continues to grow, ballooning to a $33 billion dollar industry each year.

All-Natural Diet Pills

Some manufacturers have begun to develop and produce all-natural diet pills that claim to use holistic approaches in order to suppress one’s appetite and give them a boost of energy without the use of dangerous or synthetic stimulants. If you are considering using diet pills in order to lose weight, these are most likely the safest approach.

It is always best to consult your doctor before you start taking any kind of diet pills, even if they do not require a prescription. Depending on your overall health and any specific ailments, your doctor may advise you not to take them.

If, however, you are given clearance by your doctor to use diet pills, plan on taking them only as a short-term supplement to your dietary effort, not as a long-term solution to remaining trim. The chemical known as phenylpropanolamine is found in a majority of diet pills and can become very dangerous to your health if ingested for more than three months.

If you are looking at diet pills as a supplement to your diet plan, the best course of action is to take them only for a short time at the very beginning of your diet. In the long run, a healthy diet and regular exercise is still the best way to lose weight and keep it off in the long term.