Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Get Skinny QUICK!!
Diet Pills
We've all seen the amazing slim down of Anna Nicole Smith in recent years. She attributes her sudden sveltness to "TRIMSPA BABY!!". I have to say that even I experienced a touch of the green-eyed monster seeing how much weight she lost. I admit to the passing thought, "I could take those pills for only a couple months and then look fabulous for the wedding/family reunion/vacation/bikini season/whatever...it can't hurt."
Well, if anything has changed my mind about it NOT hurting, its this article I just read from the December issue of O Magazine by Oprah, goddess of all things healthy, spiritual, happy and pure. If you think "it can't hurt", check this out before you plop your hard earned cash on the counter for some amazing diet pills...
"Some people think over-the-counter diet pills can't possibly be strong enough to be dangerous. Don't count on it, say experts at ConsumerLab.com (CL), who gave O an early look at the results of their new review of 23 weight loss supplements. The findings - including the shocking fact that one brand's daily dose contained as much caffeine as 30 cans of cola - are a wake-up call. "These pills are a lot scarier and less sexy when you see what's inside them," says Tod Cooperman, MD, president of CL, which independently evaluates the quality of vitamins and other health products.
CL advised consumers to be cautious of supplements with"proprietary blends," which typically include a mix of caffeinated herbs (i.e. green tea, guarana, maca, yerba mate). A day's worth of Zantrex-3, for example, has 1,223 milligrams (the 30 cans of cola mentioned above), an amount that can cause insomnia, tremors, stomach problems, and headache.
Some of CL's worst offenders were Twinlab's Ripped Fuel and iSatori's Lean System 7 capsules: Both blend caffeine with bitter orange, an extract from Seville orange peels that's supposed to increase metabolism. Cooperman and others worry that because a chemical in bitter orange is similar to one in ephedra, combining it with caffeine could cause cardiovascular troubles, including heart attack and palpitations-the same hazards cited by the FDA in 2004 when it banned ephedra.
Another problem pill was Trimspa, which failed CL testing because it contained high amounts of chromium, a mineral that helps regulate insulin and may aid weight loss. Tests revealed 42 percent more chromium than listed on the label: a total of 641 micrograms per day. Doses this high may cause side effects like dizziness and flushing, and there's even one report of kidney failure, Cooperman says. Plus, both Trimspa and Life Extension's Chromium 200 microgram capsules contained small amounts of the potentially toxic and carcinogenic chromium VI. Company representatives say that they get their chromium from outside suppliers and depend on them for quality control.
"The reality is there are no weight loss supplements that are both effective and safe," says Robert Saper, MD, a family medicine specialist at the Boston University School of Medicine who authored a review of dietary supplements. CL subscribers can read the full analysis and reports on more than 700 other supplements." - Lauren Gravitz, O magazine
So lets all be on the lookout for Anna Nicole to keel over any day from a heart attack, or chromium overdose. I'm telling you, THAT is supersexy....now cue the song STUPID GIRLS by Pink.
We've all seen the amazing slim down of Anna Nicole Smith in recent years. She attributes her sudden sveltness to "TRIMSPA BABY!!". I have to say that even I experienced a touch of the green-eyed monster seeing how much weight she lost. I admit to the passing thought, "I could take those pills for only a couple months and then look fabulous for the wedding/family reunion/vacation/bikini season/whatever...it can't hurt."
Well, if anything has changed my mind about it NOT hurting, its this article I just read from the December issue of O Magazine by Oprah, goddess of all things healthy, spiritual, happy and pure. If you think "it can't hurt", check this out before you plop your hard earned cash on the counter for some amazing diet pills...
"Some people think over-the-counter diet pills can't possibly be strong enough to be dangerous. Don't count on it, say experts at ConsumerLab.com (CL), who gave O an early look at the results of their new review of 23 weight loss supplements. The findings - including the shocking fact that one brand's daily dose contained as much caffeine as 30 cans of cola - are a wake-up call. "These pills are a lot scarier and less sexy when you see what's inside them," says Tod Cooperman, MD, president of CL, which independently evaluates the quality of vitamins and other health products.
CL advised consumers to be cautious of supplements with"proprietary blends," which typically include a mix of caffeinated herbs (i.e. green tea, guarana, maca, yerba mate). A day's worth of Zantrex-3, for example, has 1,223 milligrams (the 30 cans of cola mentioned above), an amount that can cause insomnia, tremors, stomach problems, and headache.
Some of CL's worst offenders were Twinlab's Ripped Fuel and iSatori's Lean System 7 capsules: Both blend caffeine with bitter orange, an extract from Seville orange peels that's supposed to increase metabolism. Cooperman and others worry that because a chemical in bitter orange is similar to one in ephedra, combining it with caffeine could cause cardiovascular troubles, including heart attack and palpitations-the same hazards cited by the FDA in 2004 when it banned ephedra.
Another problem pill was Trimspa, which failed CL testing because it contained high amounts of chromium, a mineral that helps regulate insulin and may aid weight loss. Tests revealed 42 percent more chromium than listed on the label: a total of 641 micrograms per day. Doses this high may cause side effects like dizziness and flushing, and there's even one report of kidney failure, Cooperman says. Plus, both Trimspa and Life Extension's Chromium 200 microgram capsules contained small amounts of the potentially toxic and carcinogenic chromium VI. Company representatives say that they get their chromium from outside suppliers and depend on them for quality control.
"The reality is there are no weight loss supplements that are both effective and safe," says Robert Saper, MD, a family medicine specialist at the Boston University School of Medicine who authored a review of dietary supplements. CL subscribers can read the full analysis and reports on more than 700 other supplements." - Lauren Gravitz, O magazine
So lets all be on the lookout for Anna Nicole to keel over any day from a heart attack, or chromium overdose. I'm telling you, THAT is supersexy....now cue the song STUPID GIRLS by Pink.
