Is Alli an Ally?

Reading the Sunday paper, I noticed ads for Alli, the latest weight loss drug. It was sold for years as the prescription product Xenical, and it didn't sell very well. Why?

The drug is not systemic acting. It blocks the breakdown of some of the fat you eat, so that your body can't absorb it. Which means the fat remains in your intestine and is excreted basically unchanged. The problem is, our bodies weren't designed to handle this scenario, so it is sometimes excreted at an inconvenient time, over which you may not have control. The drug didn't do very well as a prescription product because once physicians learned what the side effects were, they were extremely reluctant to prescribe it. They were not about to give patients a drug that caused (sometimes)uncontrolled oily stools. If you want a cheap preview of what it might do to you, buy some doritos or potato chips made with Olestra. We can't break down Olestra so it goes right through us. At one sitting, eat 2 or 3 "servings". Hours later you'll know what Alli can do as the undigested fat is excreted (often preceded or followed by very smelly gas).

If you want to review the efficacy of the drug, google "Xenical" and read the studies done with the prescription version of the drug. People in supervised programs lost 12 or 13 lbs over a years time. (Without the Xenical they lost a little over 6 lbs).

Now wouldn't it just be easier to look at the fat in your diet and try to cut out 1/3 of it out without adding in something else? Cut out the mayo in favor of mustard, use yogurt instead of sour cream on your baked potato, skip the butter on your bread, find some lower fat salad dressings. The cheap (and painless) way to be in the 12 lb group.