Organized medicine pushes another miracle pill for weight loss; but nutrition and exercise is far more effective

The fact that this so-called "miracle" drug lowered levels of LDL is touted as a big deal, but it really isn't. Taking a daily 30 minute walk will out-perform any prescription drug for lowering cholesterol. Eating onions, garlic, and superfoods like chlorella will lower bad cholesterol even further. Let's face it, folks: nutrition and physical exercise are the keys to staying healthy, not "magic pill" prescription drugs.

There's yet another potential problem with this newly announced drug: liver toxicity. The study reportedly involved around 1,000 patients taking the drug for a year. That's not a large enough -- nor long enough -- trial to determine long-term liver toxicity. If this drug is approved, the real experiment will be conducted on the American public. (It's the same story for all prescription drugs.) Long-term toxicity may only be discovered years later, after tens of millions of doses have been prescribed to an unsuspecting public who were told the drug was perfectly safe.

Could there be some benefit to the drug? Absolutely. If it is used in a short-term program to help someone quit smoking, then obviously the health benefits strongly outweigh the risk factors. But if it is prescribed for a lifetime, where people are taking it every day for decades, that's a different matter altogether. Apparently, a daily does of the drug helped people lose an average of 20 pounds a year. Daily walking would help people lose more than that, and making dietary changes (like avoiding soft drinks, white flour or high fructose corn syrup) would enhance that even further. These drugs simply don't compete with the effectiveness of lifestyle changes and, in fact, may harm people by fooling them into putting off those drastic and necessary lifestyle changes. If people think the solution can be found in a magic pill, for example, they may decide they don't need to start an exercise program.

Overall, prescription drugs just don't deliver on the hype. They all sound wonderful, almost miraculous, but compared to changes in diet and physical activity, prescription drugs just don't deliver impressive results. Worse yet, many end up damaging or even killing patients due to liver toxicity and other problems that may not be evident until years after the drug goes public. It's all another example of bad medicine.

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• Despres presented one of two rimonabant studies released at the American College of Cardiology meeting here.
• He found that the drug lowered levels of the dangerous blood fats called triglycerides and small dense LDL, the so-called "bad cholesterol," and C-reactive protein, a dangerous sign of artery inflammation.
• Rimonabant also improved the metabolic syndrome that signals imminent diabetes and heart disease and raised levels of HDL, which protect the heart.
• Rimonabant is the first in a class of drugs designed to mute the appetite alarms of the endocannabinoid system, the alarms activated by pot smoking and alcohol that give people the munchies and make them want to smoke when they're under the influence.