The complexity of obesity and its effects on individuals who suffer from it should not be underestimated. Nobody becomes overweight overnight or as a result of only one thing. Instead individuals who develop obesity do so as a result of complex interplay between their genetic vulnerabilities and environmental conditions. Similarly, it is unreasonable to assume that losing weight should be the result of only one thing.

Current guidelines for clinical weight loss treatment stress the importance of a healthy diet and exercise in combination with weight loss medication. They point to the need of changing long held habits and maintaining this throughout the persons’ life. It should come as little surprise that it can be very challenging to maintain weight-loss. The scientific community takes the concerns relating to the maintenance of weight loss seriously and more studies appear to be coming up in this field. Here we consider a recent study that has gained attention due to the controversial treatment they investigated.

The study, which was published in Medical Journal of Australia, looked at a new set of slimming pills in helping maintain weight loss.  The study was a retrospective audit of patients that had attended a clinic between January 2010 and July 2012. The researchers reviewed the data and analysed the results of a total of 103 patients who were given a treatment that contained a phentermine-topiramate combination.  The key findings indicated that the treatment was not well tolerated, and that 61 of 103 patients stopped the treatment. Of those, 41 specified that they had stopped due to the adverse side effects they were experiencing. However, among the patients that did not stop the treatment there were noticeable levels of weight loss. Based on this the researchers concluded that the treatment appears to be effective for those who continue with it but that it is not very well tolerated in general. You can read more about this here.

This study is concerning as it seems to suggest that patients should continue to use treatments that contain phentermine. However, this treatment is not regulated in Australia and was withdrawn in the UK. Responsible health care practitioners do not prescribe it due to the many side effects such as depression. The high number of patients who did not tolerate the treatment in the study is clearly much higher than should be acceptable and even higher than what clinical trials found. Most doctors would argue against the use of phentermine and even online clinics will refuse to prescribe this medication. Have a look at this UK website where you can get weight loss treatments and even they argue very strongly against the use of this medication.

Whilst it is understandable that there are times when individuals need help with their weight-loss, it should never come at the cost of severe side effects. Especially if those side effects can affect other co-morbidities that develop as a result of obesity. The best way to lose weight and maintain it is through healthy diet and exercise. We recommend this webpage for further advice.