Visit any natural food store or browse the Internet, you will find hundreds of 'herbal' weight loss pills that promise remarkable benefits. Although it's tempting to try new pills, the possible side effects and safety concerns aren't typically listed. And while some of them may be promising, others can do more harm than good.
Over-the-counter herbal diet pills is close to a $13B business. But some claims about the supposed weight loss benefits of herbal weight loss supplements are very misleading. First, the scientific evidence is slim that these herbal diet pills help you to lose weight. Second, many of these herbal diet pills are amphetamine-type stimulants, which can over-stimulate the nervous system, causing ill-health and nasty side-effects. Many supplements contain ephedra that is known serious side effects.
Herbal diet pills are extremely popular these days as an alternative to more traditional methods of weight loss like diet and exercise. I find it worrisome that herbal treatments are so popular for several reasons.
First of all, just about anything can be in an herbal diet pill. 'Herbs' are a kind of loophole in the FDA system, as they are not classified as drugs and therefore don't have the rigorous standards for testing and safety that drugs normally get.
Make no mistake about it though, herbs can be every bit as potent and dangerous as illegal narcotics. The difference between medicinal herbs and medicinal drugs is vague anyway, as most prescription drugs themselves come from a kind of plant or herb.
Most of the time the 'herbal' classification don’t last very long; the FDA eventually calls it a drug and brings in the scientists. When that happens herbal diet pills often either become available only by prescription or are banned completely. When researching herbal diet pills, it is clear that the herbal pill manufactures are very familiar with the FDA.
Unscrupulous sites even use it to their advantage saying things to the effect of 'buy it now before the FDA bans it!'. You need to ask yourself, if the FDA is likely going to ban the herbal diet pill you're interested in, should you be taking it at all?
Do not be fooled by the word 'natural' in a natural diet pill. I would actually trust a regular diet pill that is FDA approved a lot more than some herbal diet pill concoction that has who knows what in it. The words herbal and natural are marketing ploys and should never be confused with the word safe unless there's been FDA testing to prove it.
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