The obsession with losing weight in our society, mainly associated with aesthetic reasons and it is still people with a normal body mass index (BMI), it is a reality.
This has spread the belief in miracle diets and slimming drugs. However, these could cause serious damage to health of those who make or consume them.
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Before the pandemicthe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) pointed out that 34.4% of the Chilean population older than 15 years had high rates of obesity.
Then, and due to the quarantines, the 44% of Chileans experienced a weight gain during the periodaccording to the Food Consumption and Anxiety Survey during the Covid-19 quarantine in Ibero-America.
In this context, and with summer coming, many have opted for express diets that promise rapid weight loss without starving, or for the use of drugs that reduce appetite or dissolve fat, but little is known about the safety or effectiveness of these.
For Paula Molinapharmaceutical chemist Smoked Pharmacies“these diets can constitute not only a fraudbut also a serious damage to health, because they lack scientific evidence.
“Most of these diets exclude certain nutrients, completely unbalancing the body. Diets must meet the requirements of being balanced, varied and moderatemaking it possible to maintain optimal health by providing less energy than we spend.
For the rest, you must be sure that the weight gain is not due to a metabolic disorder, which is why it must be recommended by a specialist,” he indicates.
Likewise, it is emphatic regarding the use of appetite suppressant products. “No medication should be taken without medical supervision, minus those formulated for weight losssince in inadequate doses, these drugs can generate pulmonary hypertension, increases in blood pressure, vascular accidents and even manic phases in bipolar people”, he points out.
For this reason, medical support is essential, especially in people with psychiatric, cardiovascular, metabolic or endocrine disorders, who would see an increased risk to their health when consuming them.
And it is not surprising that the doctor emphasizes this point, considering the increase in a 300% in sales of appetite suppressant drugs from 2013 to 2017, detected by the Institute of Public Health (ISP).
«It carries a significant health risk not only due to their abuse, but also due to interactions with other drugs and the side effects they generate,» says the professional.
However, the pharmaceutical company adds that the products “natural” promoted for weight loss they also have an associated risk.
“All substances produce chemical reactions in the body, no matter how safe or innocuous they seem to us. So interactions will always be generated, especially when we have people who consume medications permanently for basic pathologies”, highlights Molina.
For this reason, we cannot fall into self-medication. “Most of the people who start consuming these products do so because a friend, family member or co-worker started taking them and they feel less hungry,” says Molina.
This is the first deadly sin in self care. We cannot forget that each organism reacts differently, in addition to mentioning that chronic pathologies play an important role in the management of others that occur acutely or sporadically.
Therefore, it is essential the medical evaluation and follow-up. In this regard, he points out that «No change in diet or the use of a medication should be done without medical supervision, except those that have been formulated to lose weight.»
«It should be considered that these are useless if there is no multidisciplinary treatment, which implies a change in eating habits and incorporates permanent physical activity. If there is no comprehensive work, no positive effect will be generated in our organism”, he concludes.