In a HealthDay article via Forbes, Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine reports on the side effects of weight loss drugs like sibutramine (Meridia), orlistat (Xenical) and rimonabant (Acomplia).

 

Dr Katz does not feel that obesity is likely to be solved by pharma.

 

Here are his extremely insightful words as quoted in the article:  “Obesity is less about the body doing anything wrong than it is about an environment that is all wrong for our bodies.  We are adapted to survive in a world where calories are scarce and physical activity demands high. To use pharmacotherapy to fight obesity, we are, in essence, hoping to redirect the fundamental activities of human metabolism. I don't think we'll ever succeed in doing so, without dire cost in toxicity and side effects."

 

Articulately and concisely Dr. Katz has stated the reality.  And it’s a reality that Americans really don’t want to hear in my opinion.  Americans like the quick fix, and there is no quick fix to the obesity tsunami.  Diet and exercise, diet and exercise are true solutions, not pharma.