Diet Pills - Are There Any Medical Reasons for Taking This Substance?

Are There Any Medical Reasons for Taking This Substance?

Prescription diet pills are not recommended for people who are only slightly overweight. These drugs are used to treat obesity, a medical condition characterized by excess fat stored in the body. People who are considered overweight or obese weigh more—generally 20 percent or more—than is considered healthy for their heights and ages. Obese people are at risk for such medical conditions as diabetesA serious disorder that causes problems with the normal breakdown of sugars in the body., strokeA loss of feeling, consciousness, or movement caused by the breaking or blocking of a blood vessel in the brain., and heart disease. Obesity contributes to the deaths of about 300,000 Americans annually, according to the FDA.

Body Mass Index

A more specific standard called body mass index (BMI) is used to determine whether an overweight or obese individual is a candidate for prescription diet pill therapy. Body mass index is a calculation that expresses the relationship between a person's weight and height in a single number. It is used as an indicator of health risk due to excess weight. Diet drugs may be prescribed to a person with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 and no medical conditions related to obesity. A BMI of 30 is assigned to a 5-foot-5-inch-tall (1.65-meters tall) person weighing 180 pounds (81.65 kilograms), a 5-foot-7-inch-tall (1.7-meters tall) person weighing about 190 pounds (86.18 kilograms), and a 6-foot-tall (1.83-meters tall) person weighing about 220 pounds (99.79 kilograms).

Health Risk Re-evaluated

In an interesting spin on the over-emphasis given to obesity in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in April of 2005 that being "modestly overweight" might not be as dangerous as once thought. According to CNN.com, the CDC's study revealed that "people who are modestly overweight have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight." The key term here is "modestly," meaning slightly.

CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding cautioned that severe obesity remains a major health risk but pointed out that the definition of obesity is evolving. The CDC's new report changes obesity's ranking among "the nation's leading preventable causes of death" from number two to number seven, behind smoking, alcohol, germs, toxins and pollutants, car crashes, and guns.

It could take awhile for the CDC'snew vision of a healthy weight to take hold throughout a weight-loss-obsessed culture. MSNBC.com reported that girls as young as nine years old are "using bodybuilding steroids—not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars." Steroids aid in this quest by helping replace fat with muscle. (A complete entry on steroids and their dangers is available in this encyclopedia.) In many cases, the girls taking steroids suffer from eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia as well.

Length of Treatment

The biggest problem with prescription diet pills is that some users develop a dependence on them. Most diet pills are prescribed for short-term use, which ranges from a few weeks to several months. The goal of this treatment is for patients to lose weight at a steady rate and keep the weight off. Diet pills are only part of the treatment that focuses on changing patients' behavior. These changes generally consist of establishing and sticking to an exercise routine as well as following a healthy diet.