Why are drugs for weight loss dangerous?

Says Julia Chekhonina, a senior researcher at the clinic of the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology, Candidate of Medical Sciences:

There are several groups of drugs that help reduce excess body weight. Some interfere with the absorption of fat from food and promote its elimination from the body. Others dull the feeling of hunger, and the person begins to eat less. 

In addition, there are drugs that simultaneously reduce hunger and stimulate physical activity. That is, a person spends more energy and consumes less. However, these drugs are quite serious, they are taken on the recommendations of doctors, they have contraindications, so you cannot buy them at a pharmacy without a prescription. 

From the point of view of a healthy lifestyle, it is much easier to straighten out your diet, to observe a certain dietary regime. And then no drugs will be needed. Because if you take any of these drugs and do not change your main diet, then the effect will last only for the duration of the intake. After the drug is canceled, all the lost kilograms will definitely return again. 

The fact is that against the background of a change in diet under the influence of these drugs, the body may not receive the necessary substances, especially if the feeling of hunger is dulled. As a result, the process of muscle loss can begin. If at the same time you cancel the drug and return to the previous diet, the lost kilograms will return with interest.

Thus, no matter what treatment options we talk about - about conservative ones associated with taking appropriate medications, or about surgical ones aimed at reducing the volume of the stomach - we still return to the fact that the main factor in weight loss will still be the effect of nutrition. And these drugs are just additional factors that help limit excess nutrition.

Lose weight until you lose consciousness

Among adolescents, there are more and more cases when they independently begin to take laxatives and diuretics in order to lose weight (the drugs described above for appetite suppression and others will not be sold to them in the pharmacy). And this is extremely dangerous! Against the background of the uncontrolled intake of laxatives, diffuse diarrhea develops, diuretics - severe dehydration, electrolyte balance is disturbed.

 All this can be accompanied by convulsions, disorders of the cardiovascular system: a decrease in blood pressure, and an increase in heart rate, and even fainting. That is, against the background of the uncontrolled intake of such drugs, the destruction of the body begins.

With all this, the child's body suffers from huge losses of vital substances. In addition, weight loss is accompanied by a weakening of the immune system, exacerbation of chronic or the development of new diseases. Such forced weight loss is very dangerous for bone tissue, because its density decreases, bones become fragile, and the risk of fractures increases. And if this process is not stopped and measures are not taken, then the consequences can be irreversible. This is especially dangerous for girls because it leads to impaired reproductive function (amenorrhea).