The new diet drug Alli is a hot seller in the valley. It has been available over
the counter for several weeks now. The Healthline 3 Team's Beth Fisher digs
deeper.
People everywhere are talking about the results and side effects it can produce.
We looked into this new drug to see if it's living up to its hype.
Henderson mom Jaime Clear was one of the first people in the country to start
taking Alli. "I've lost 19 pounds so far, just in the last 8 or 9 weeks.
Jaime received drug samples from Glaxosmithkline back in April. She tells us
Alli is working for her like nothing else has. "I've tried starvation, working
out a lot, a lot of the fad diets and diet pills and little things over the
years and have never had any luck with anything."
Alli received FDA approval earlier this year and hit store shelves last month.
It's available over the counter and despite initial shortages, Alli is now
fairly easy to find. The diet drug is supposed to help people lose 50 percent
more weight than they would without it.
Patients are still encouraged to watch what they eat and exercise. The company
says Alli blocks 25 percent of fat in the foods that are eaten. Some of the
drug's side effects have become well publicized.
Dr. Francis Teng performs weight loss surgery at Mountainview Hospital. "When
you can't absorb fat, there's a lot of side effects like loose stool, greasy
stool, diarrhea. And that's what most of my patients who have been on that
before complain about."
To reduce the side effects patients are supposed to limit their fat intake. The
company says they should not eat more than 15 grams per meal or 45 grams a day.
"I personally only had one bad experience and it was right when I started,"
Jaime told Healthline 3. "I got really comfortable taking it for the two weeks
and thought, you know, I can push it a little bit. Ate too much cheese. It was a
long night at work."
Alli contains the same ingredient as the prescription drug Xenical but at half
the dose. Dr. Teng says patients should do their homework before taking Alli.
"Even with decreasing the dose in half, everybody responds to medication
differently, so my advice to you, patients who are going to try that, be very
cautious."
He also recommends that patients don't view Alli as a quick fix. "...and in the
meantime they haven't changed their lifestyle so they're using that as their
magic bullet to fix their problem, which it will not."
A public watch group claims the drug also increases a person's risk of colon
cancer. The FDA says evidence doesn't support that claim. Alli costs about $60
for a one month supply.
