Xenical for Weight Loss

Xenical is manufactured by Roche Pharmaceuticals and is a prescription medication.

Xenical (Orlistat) is licenced for use in the US and UK and is a weight control medication for very obese patients.

It is intended to be used where other dietary and exercise interventions have been tried and failed and where there are significant attendant health problems and risk factors such as high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. Xenical is claimed to help to manage these risk factors as well.

In other words, it should be viewed as a treatment of pretty much last resort!

Xenical for Weight Loss - How Does it Work...?

Xenical is a fat blocker and reduces the absorbtion of fat by your body.

Dietary fat needs to be broken down - digested - by enzymes called lipases before your body can absorb them. When taken with a meal, Xenical interferes with lipases activity and effectively allows around a third of the fat in the meal to pass through your gut undigested.

The result is that your body can't convert the fat into calories, to either burn or as is more likely, store in your fatty tissues.

As a result, the manufacturers claim, Xenical can help you to lose weight, maintain your new weight and prevent you putting the weight you've lost back on again.

Xenical for Weight Loss - Does it Work...?

It only works in the presence of dietary fat and is taken three times a day with a meal.

Weight loss normally starts in the first couple of weeks and is claimed to continue for as long as Xenical continues to be taken. Clinical trials have indicated it's safety for long term use.

Now, there are a few unpleasant side-effects:

These side effects are supposed to go away after a while and are really only a problem after fatty meals (isn't that the point of taking Xenical, though? With fatty meals?).

Now, we don't mean to be flippant but you would have to be pretty desperate to ask to be prescribed Xenical. We wouldn't suggest using it as your weight loss intervention of first resort!

There aren't any reported contraindications as far as medications are concerned, but as your doctor would prescribe it for you, he or she would check to make sure it was safe for you to take.

There are concerns that people will use Xenical so they can continue to eat fatty foods, or increase their consumption of fatty foods, which would defeat the object.

Xenical is also unlikely to lead to any changes in dietary habits or attitudes to food and eating.

In other words, you're likely to carry on eating the junk that made you fat in the first place and will probably put the weight back on again once you stop taking it.

The Bottom Line...?

We would suggest that a healthy, balanced diet and some exercise should be your preferred option...but hey, its your choice! In a world looking for quick fixes we can understand the appeal of products like Xenical.

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