Avoid products from China, eat less and exercise more!

According to Public Citizen’s Worst Pills Best Pills, “As of early April [2009], the FDA had identified 72 weight loss products that illegally contain at least one active prescription drug. At least one of nine different prescription drugs had been added to each of these products, including four drugs not approved by the FDA for sale in the U.S., even as prescription drugs.”

Some of the drugs found in the weight loss products include Prozac, Lasix, Meridia and Dilantin. It’s bad enough being on these drugs when you know you’re taking them, but downright dangerous if you don’t know. I researched some of the weight loss products cited by the FDA and found that all of them were from Asia, including Japan, China and Malaysia.

This is yet another reason to avoid products from China. Lately they have brought us poison pet food, lead in children’s toys and dozens of other products, widely contaminated prescription drugs, counterfeit prescription drugs, toxic seafood, poisonous toothpaste, poisonous drywall, and dozens of other hazardous, defective and counterfeit products.

The FDA is clearly not protecting us from harmful products made in China—this warning about drug-spiked weight loss products comes long after the horse is out of the barn and people have been harmed. The strongest message we can send to China is to not buy its products.

As for diet pills, their effects are temporary and when you stop taking them the result is rebound weight gain. Most of them involve jitteriness, irritability and/or diarrhea. There is no magic pill for weight loss. At the risk of stating the obvious, the only long-term solution for weight loss is to eat a balanced, wholesome diet in moderation and to exercise regularly.