Scary New Diet Pills

By Elizabeth Angell,Allure magazine

If someone handed you a pill and said "take two of these and you'll lose all the weight you want to," would you be tempted? If you answered anything other than yes, I don't believe you. We all want a magic bullet for our problems, and a new breed of diet pills has many people believing they can take the easy route to substantial weight loss. In our May issue, Hallie Levine Sklar documents how these new pills-widely available over the internet-have proven both to be both addictive and dangerous.

One person, a New York City-based hairstylist, told Sklar that at first the pills were wildly successful. He lost 25 pounds in two months. "The weight loss was pretty much effortless-I just stopped thinking about food," he said. But soon, he experienced periods where his heart would race and his mood was wildly unpredictable. He no longer felt like himself. Terrified, he stopped taking the pills and within weeks, he was gaining the weight back.

The FDA has issued warnings about these drugs, but as once researcher put it, "they can't police all the corners of the Internet." Several of the pills contain a potent combination of amphetamines and antidepressants, and there have been reports of heart attacks and stroke-and some can be highly addictive. One victim ended up in the ER with no idea how she got there and then checked herself into a detox program.

The biggest irony of all? For all their dangers, the drugs don't really work over the long term. Some people may lose as much as 10 percent of their body weight, but few lost more-and gained it back when they stopped taking the pills. "The best prescription for long-term weight loss remains the same," writes Sklar. "Follow a healthy diet and exercise regularly. Unfortunately, those are habits women have to adopt themselves-they can't buy them over the Internet."

For more details-including a specific list of the drugs to be wary of-pick up our May issue on newsstands now or download our iPad edition.

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Photo Credit: WWD