“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” – John Milton
IN A SOCIETY where the pressure to be thin is so overwhelming, it’s no surprise that thousands of people worldwide resort to unsafe diet pills or worse, develop eating disorders just so they can shed off the extra pounds.
My mother’s been taking Chinese-made diet pills for a while and I recently accompanied her to the doctor because she was feeling weak and dizzy. I asked the doctor if the pills were a source of concern, and the doctor said that, although my mother’s condition wasn’t related to the diet pills, she should probably stop taking them for now because they’ve been found to have undesirable effects on the liver.
Curious about the topic, I searched the Internet and found an article, published in TIME magazine last August 2002, titled “Asia’s Killer Diet Pills” which reported on women in Japan, Singapore, China, and many other Asian countries, that have died due to the toxicity of the Chinese-made diet pills they took. These diet pills contained an appetite suppressant called N-nitroso fenluramine, which is believed by many doctors and health officials to cause liver failure. Fenluramine has been banned in the US since 1997 because it was proven to cause heart valve damage.
According to the article, even diet pills that do not contain fenluramine can still have adverse effects because they have diuretics and laxatives that may lead to skin rashes, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome. Dr. Chung Mau Lo, a liver specialist from the University of Hong Kong Medical Center, said in the article that because Chinese-made diet pills are registered as herbal medicines, the pills do not need to pass through the drug trials that ensure that they are safe for public consumption.
Although diet pills are widely used, eating disorders are still more common and affect millions of people worldwide. In the US alone, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that around five to ten million women and roughly one million men suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and other associated dietary conditions. The NIMH also estimated that ten percent of female college students suffer from a clinical or borderline eating disorder.
In order to stop the negative effects brought about by our society’s obsession with weight loss, we must change our perception and opt to live healthy, active lives instead of resorting to dangerous and fatal means of losing weight. Regular and proper exercise and a well-balanced diet are still the safest and most effective ways to lose weight and keep it off for good.
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If you already have an eating disorder, consult a psychiatrist that can help you deal with your issues. If you’re planning to take diet pills, be sure that they come from reliable drugstores, have the accompanying safety guidelines for use, and that they have passed through drug trials.
