Wish you could tell your growling belly to shut up? Now there’s a drug for that–and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
As U.S. obesity rates near 35 percent of the adult population, the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new prescription weight-loss pill called lorcacerin, and marketed under the name Belviq. The drug safely turns off the natural signals your body sends to your brain to remind you to eat enough food to maintain your current weight. Sounds swell, right? Here are the questions you should be asking before asking your doc for a prescription:
Does it really work? And how much weight will I lose? How quickly will the weight come off?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. First, the drug is intended to be combined with a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, so it won’t just whip you into shape unless you make some changes. While the drug itself will curb hunger, it won’t, for instance, keep an emotional eater from downing a tub of ice cream like it’s her job, says Holly Herrington, registered dietician at the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“Drugs like this are tools to help in weight loss. They are never intended to be the end all be all,” says Herrington. “The one thing we have seen over and over again in studies that causes weight loss is increasing exercise and choosing healthier foods.”
In multiple studies totaling nearly 8,000 people who took Belviq, participants lost an average of between 3 and 3.7 percent of their body weight over the course of a year. Better yet, about 47 percent of non-diabetics who took Belviq lost upwards of 5 percent of their weight.
I just have a few stubborn pounds to lose. Can I take lorcacerin?
The drug is only recommended for those who are obese (i.e., your body mass index is pushing 30 or greater), or overweight (i.e., you have a BMI of 27 or greater) and suffering from at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol. Calculate your BMI here.
A high BMI can increase your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, headache, and sleep apnea. “We’ve seen that even a small decrease in weight can improve these conditions,” says Herrington. Learn more about how your BMI can affect your health.
If you have an increased risk for heart disease, or you’re planning on popping out a kid in the near future, you’d do best to lay off–even if you have a high BMI.
Are results guaranteed?
If you don’t lose weight in the first three months, you might want to call it quits, as continued use is unlikely to cause weight loss, according to the FDA.
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Is it really safe?
Potential side effects of Belviq include depression, migraines, and memory lapses–but no anal leakage, a much scoffed-about side effect of the only other FDA-approved prescription drug for long-term weight loss: Orlistat.
While the uncomfortable side effects of orlistat (sold as Xenical) make it seldom prescribed, it is available in small doses as the OTC drug Alli, which doesn’t block hunger, but prevents the body from absorbing dietary fat, Herrington says. Unfortunately, fat that’s eaten but not absorbed has to come out some way, making the drug infamous for causing diarrhea. The risks of Belviq are believed to be far gentler.
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