HCG Diet Says Energy Drink Warnings Shift Choices

HCG Diet Direct representatives are seeing more and more nervous consumers. The recent FDA warnings against popular diet and energy pills have caused a shift in the market. The majority of supplements pinpointed by the FDA as dangerous are meant to provide boosts of energy or long lasting energy allowing the user to lean out quickly. FDA warnings against the ill effects that accompany many popular choices have left a large portion of dieters turning from the energy pill based dieting methods and focusing on homeopathic dietary treatments.
One popular alternative that is benefitting from the recent discontent the FDA left with dieters after their fatalistic warnings is HCG.
Jenny Boynton of HCG Diet Direct explained the product, “HCG is a natural phenomenon. It is a substance that is actually found naturally in the human body; it already has a physiological place…a function. HCG dieters are not asked to take in any foreign substances in order to lose weight. And the HCG offers results far beyond any of the other, non-natural methods people have turned to in recent years. Most HCG dieters will drop an average of a pound a day.”
HCG’s physiological function is to work (together with the Hypothalamus) to stimulate the part of the brain that deals with eating and drinking as well as emotions. While on the HCG, dieters are required to stick to a very low calorie diet (the allowed intake is 500 calories a day). This type of low calorie diet is usually nearly impossible to navigate successfully, but the HCG’s re-introduction into the body gives dieters the ability to function with the small amount of calories without hunger issues.
HCG’s safety is first and foremost in the minds of many consumers as they turn away from more dangerous options and look instead to the natural and lasting effects HCG offers. The substance has no side effects and comes with an amazing history of case studies outlining the average weight loss success. Male dieters often see even higher averages of weight loss than their female counterparts and both male and female dieters are able to keep their weight off by fulfilling the maintenance requirements after they have successfully navigated the HCG weight loss program.

FDA Says Some Weight Loss Pills Risky

If you are currently taking a weight loss supplement or are considering doing so as part of a “New Year’s Resolution” to loss weight, RECONSIDER.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just released a list of more than 25 different products marketed for weight loss that should not be used. The reason they should not be used is because they contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients that may put your health at risk.
The tainted weight loss products are Fatloss Slimming, 2 Day Diet, 3x Slimming Power, Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet, 5x Imelda Perfect Slimming, 3 Day Diet, 7 Day Herbal Slim, 8 Factor Diet, 7 Diet Day/Night Formula, 999 Fitness Essence, Extrim Plus, GMP, Imelda Perfect Slim, Lida DaiDaihua, Miaozi Slim Capsules, Perfect Slim, Perfect Slim 5x, Phyto Shape, ProSlim Plus, Royal Slimming Formula, Slim 3 in 1, Slim Express 360, Slimtech, Somotrim, Superslim, TripleSlim, Zhen de Shou, and Venom Hyperdrive 3.0.
These weight loss products are often marketed as “dietary supplements” and are sold on various Web sites and in some retail stores. Some of the products claim to be “natural” or to contain only “herbal” ingredients, but actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the product labels or in promotional advertisements. These products have not been approved by the FDA, are illegal and may be potentially harmful to unsuspecting consumers.
In analyzing these products, the FDA found that the undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients in some of these products include sibutramine (a controlled substance), rimonabant (a drug not approved for marketing in the United States), phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication), and phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer causing agent). Some of the amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients far exceeded the FDA-recommended levels, putting consumers’ health at risk.
If you have been using any of these products, you should stop taking them and consult with your physician immediately.
The health risks posed by these products can be serious. One example is sibutramine, which was found in many of the products. This drug can cause high blood pressure, seizures, tachycardia, palpitations, heart attack or stroke. Sibutramine can also interact with other medications that patients may be taking and increase their risk of adverse drug events. The safety of sibutramine has also not been established in pregnant and lactating women, or in children younger than 16 years of age.
Another example is Rimonabant, an ingredient found in these products. This drug was evaluated, but not approved by the FDA for marketing in the United States. The drug, which is approved in Europe, has been associated with increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. It has been linked to five deaths and 720 adverse reactions in Europe over the last two years.
“These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages,” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA. “Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences. Therefore FDA is taking this action to protect the health of the American public.”

Going Online Helps People With Weight Loss Stay In-line

Once a person loses weight they must battle in keeping those pounds off. A new study suggests that using interactive websites, specially designed to promote weight-loss maintenance, might help.
The study performed at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research was part of the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial, one of the largest and longest-running weight maintenance trials ever conducted lasting three years and including more than 1,600 people at four study sites across the United States.
What the study found was people who shed pounds and then consistently logged on to a specially designed internet sites for weight maintenance maintained more weight loss than participants who logged in less frequently.
Study's lead author, Kristine Funk, a research associate at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore, said, "The bottom line is that we think the Internet is a helpful tool for weight loss maintenance. People who used the study-designed interactive Web site had better results than people who used it less often."
"Keeping weight off is even more difficult than losing it in the first place, so the fact that so many people were able to maintain a good portion of their weight loss is very encouraging to us" says Victor J. Stevens, Ph.D., study co-author of the study.
Researchers say that there are many useful weight management websites that people can access. They advise people to look for these elements when choosing a site.
• Sites that encourage accountability by asking users to consistently record weight, exercise, and calories consumed
• Sites that include tailored or personalized information
• Sites with interactive features that allow users to communicate with each other and with nutrition and exercise experts
• Sites with accurate health information.
"Consistency and accountability are essential in any weight maintenance program. The unique part of this intervention was that it was available on the Internet, whenever and wherever people wanted to use it," said Funk.

Double Weight Loss By Writing Food Diary

Earlier this month eMaxHealth conducted a weight loss poll asking Do You Think Keeping A Food Diary Could Improve Weight Loss? Out of 553 responders 74 percent believed that yes, writing a food diary can improve weight loss. Now a new study, released by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research shows that food diary not only improves weight loss, but doubles the amount that we can lose weight.
This study found that the best predictors of weight loss were how frequently food diaries were kept and how many support sessions the participants attended. Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records.
The Kaiser study is important because the findings are from one of the largest and longest running weight loss maintenance trials ever conducted. This is one of a few trials to recruit a large percentage of African Americans as study participants (44 percent), significant because African Americans have a higher risk of conditions aggravated by being overweight, including diabetes and heart disease. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.
The study was coordinated by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and involved participants and co-authors from Duke University Medical Center, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Johns Hopkins University.
While one commentator at eMaxHealth has written that he doubts that many people will be honest in writing their food diaries, another person writes “I totally agree that a food diary helps you to lose weight. Of course it is only as good as the person doing the journaling. It makes you conscience of what you are eating so maybe you won’t eat it if you think about it. I feel good when I look back to see how “good” I was all day. Then, I know if I can have that extra piece of cheese.”
Some say that keeping a food diary helps you to see how much junk food you eat and if it’s helping you to lose weight. Food diary enables you to improve your eating habits and thus, to lose more weight, up to the point of doubling your weight loss.

FDA Rejects Both Lorcaserin and Qnexa as Medical Weight Loss Treatments

It does not appear that obesity will be cured by a pill any time soon. Two of the three most recently introduced weight loss pills have been rejected by the US Food and Drug Administration, including lorcaserin (Arena Pharmaceuticals) and Qnexa (Vivus Inc) this month. Meridia by Abbott Labs was pulled from the shelves in October as well. Unless Contrave (Orexigen) is approved in December, the only available prescription medication for is Roche’s Xenical.

Weight Loss Drugs Have Many Side Effects, but Fewer Benefits

The FDA rejected Qnexa, a combination of phentermine and topiramate, yesterday due to safety concerns. An advisory panel voted against approving the drug back in July. Vivus has stated that the agency requested that the company provide a thorough evaluation of the drug’s potential for causing birth defects and heart problems. They have said that they will provide this information to the FDA in about six weeks.
Lorcaserin, an investigational selective serotonin 2C receptor agonist, was not approved because of concerns that it caused mammary tumors in rats. In September, an FDA committee voted 9 to 5 against recommending the drug due to side effects such as depression and memory loss.
Meridia (sibutramine) was recently withdrawn from the market because of the risk of heart attacks and strokes in certain patients. Meridia was initially approved in 1997.
Experts are concerned that the FDA’s recent trend toward rejecting anti-obesity medications will halt drug development from other companies as well. Agency director of the Office of New Drugs, Dr. John Jenkins, says that the FDA is “committed to working toward approval, so long as they are safe and effective for the population for which they are intended.”
As for other medical treatments for obesity, an FDA advisory committee will consider a proposal from Allergan to lower the weight threshold for use of its adjustable gastric banding system, called Lap-Band. Currently, the device is only approved for patients with a BMI greater than 40, or greater than 35 with documented obesity-related health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.