Are Diet Pills Good For Ones Body?

Individuals looking to lose weight fast may be tempted by the overwhelming number of aggressively marketed diet pills claiming to do everything from reducing food cravings to helping them drop five pants' sizes in a month. Unfortunately, the safety of many of these diet pills are not being tested before putting them on the market, putting consumers at considerable risk, warns the website QuackWatch. In fact, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, or DSHEA, prevents the FDA from regulating over-the-counter diet pills for safety or even providing an accurate list of what ingredients are included in them.

Supplement Regulation Warning

Under DSHEA, dietary supplements are held to less-stringent regulatory oversight than foods, beverages or medications. This means the FDA cannot regulate dietary supplements until after it receives reports of serious illness, injury or death caused by the product, warns QuackWatch. Even all-natural ingredients can contain deadly poisons, such as cyanide, notes the Snopes website. Therefore, mixing weight-loss potions from the extracts and concentrates of natural plants and herbs can be dangerous.

Drug Interaction

According to an April 2009 Newsweek article, "Too Good to be True," a FDA investigation of over-the-counter diet pills found 72 products containing undeclared pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical ingredients found in the pills, often at higher doses than allowed by prescription, included appetite suppressants, anti-seizure medications, diuretics and even anti-depressants, according to Newsweek. Consumers using these diet pills could suffer a potentially fatal drug interaction if they are taking other prescription medications.

Potential Liver Damage

Some diet pills have been found to cause liver damage. For example, in May 2009, the FDA released a recall warning for Hydroxycut products, a series of products containing herbal extracts, marketed for weight loss and energy enhancement. The recall was sparked by reports of permanent liver damage, in some cases so severe that the consumers required liver transplants. Additional health problems included cardiovascular damages and kidney failure. According to Newsweek, even after a dangerous product is banned, lax regulation allows manufacturers to switch to new ingredients that may be equally unsafe without any pre-market testing.

Possible Heart Attack or Stroke

Even prescription diet pills have been found to carry potential risks, according to a September 2010 article in The New York Times titled, "Study Sees Heart Risk in Meridia Diet Pill." The European Medicines Agency asked that Meridia, which contains the active pharmaceutical sibutramine, be removed from the market due to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke in patients with cardiovascular disease. Additionally, sibutramine was one of the undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients the FDA found in their investigation of over-the-counter diet pills, according to Newsweek.

Risk of Suicide

Another dangerous, undeclared pharmaceutical ingredient found in over-the-counter diet pills during the FDA investigation was the anti-depressant Prozac, says Newsweek. Prozac users have long been carefully monitored by their physicians for suicidal impulses, particularly during the period of withdrawal from the medication. As noted on the Prozac label, teenagers are especially at risk for suicidal thinking from Prozac. This puts consumers at risk, and teenagers at even higher risk for suicide if they are taking Prozac without their knowledge in a diet pill.