Alli is the brand name for the drug orlistat. Orlistat is available both in prescription and non-prescription forms and is used to help people lose weight. Because orlistat affects how you absorb fats, you may need to watch how much fat you consume in order to prevent side effects and maximize the effectiveness of Alli.
Alli Mechanism
To understand why you need to regulate your fat intake while taking Alli, it helps to know how Alli works. Alli blocks the action of an enzyme known as lipase, RxList.com explains. Your pancreas makes and secretes lipase to break down fats from your diet, which allows them to be absorbed by your intestines. By blocking the activity of lipase, Alli makes it harder for you to absorb fat from your diet, reducing the number of calories your body gets from fat-containing foods.
Alli and Fat Intake
If you take Alli, limit fat to 30 percent or less of your daily caloric intake, Drugs.com recommends. This means that the amount of fat you may consume depends on how many calories you eat each day; for example, if you consume 2,000 calories each day, a maximum of 600 calories each day should come from fat. Because each gram of fat contains nine calories, this is equivalent to less than 67g of fat each day.
What Happens If You Eat Too Much Fat
Alli works by preventing fat absorption by your digestive tract, causing some of your dietary fat to pass through your digestive tract into your feces. Eating very fatty meals will increase the amount of fat that gets expelled into your feces, potentially exacerbating some of the side effects associated with taking Alli. These include oily and fatty stools, more frequent or loose stools, stomach pain, nausea, and oily discharge with your stools and oily spotting in undergarments.
Considerations
Although Alli can help you lose weight, it only prevents your body from absorbing some of the calories from dietary fat, so if you overeat you may still have trouble losing weight. Although you should follow a low-fat diet while taking Alli, you need a certain amount of fat, particularly for vitamin absorption. Some vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K dissolve better in fat; you may need to take supplements of these vitamins to prevent deficiencies, MedlinePlus notes.
Member Comments