Slimming pills or diet pills can be an effective way to speed weight loss. However, many pills that claim to aid weight loss are full of "fillers" rather than the active ingredients that make weight loss possible. Or worse, they have dangerous additives that do more harm than good to your body in the long run. When shopping for slimming pills, check for the following ingredients on the label before you buy.
Appetite Suppressants
Most slimming pills claim to help you eat less by giving you a "full" feeling and dulling hunger pangs. One way they do this is by including fiber in the pills, which will lead to a full feeling. The other is with ingredients like green tea extract; hoodia gordonii, a natural plant extract; or chemical compounds like phenylpropanolamine. (see References). Appetite suppressants, whether man-made or naturally occurring, may be effective in the short term. However, they can lead to side effects like high blood pressure, nervousness or heart problems.
Diuretics
Many slimming pills contain caffeine, which is a natural diuretic that causes rapid weight loss by ridding the body of excess water. The effects of diuretic ingredients are temporary. They do not aid the body in burning fat, but only encourage temporary weight loss by causing frequent urination. Pills with these ingredients may be good for a quick fix, but as soon as you stop taking the pills, the water weight will return. In addition, the pills can cause dehydration. Even worse, the body will attempt to make up for the loss of water by attempting to store more water once the ingredients have left the body, making an individual even heavier than they were before.
Metabolism Boosters
Often, slimming pills include stimulants that speed up the body's processes and therefore the metabolism. Caffeine is the number one stimulant. Yerba mate, guarana, and L-carnitine are other common metabolism boosters. These ingredients can indeed boost metabolism by stimulating the release of hormones into the bloodstream. But eventually, the adrenal gland, which is responsible for making and secreting hormones, will not be able to keep up with the demand and the body will not be able to regulate its hormone production and release properly.
Ephedra
There has been much controversy in the United States over the use of ephedra in diet supplements, with bans on its being placed and lifted multiple times (see References). While it is illegal to sell a formula containing ephedra alkaloids, weight-loss products with ephedra extract (sometimes known as "Mormon tea") are still on the market. The symptoms of the original ephedra products included hypertension and heart problems leading to heart attacks, strokes and death. For this reason, individuals with a tendency for high-blood pressure or heart issues may want to refrain from taking any product that includes ephedra extract (see References).
Laxatives
In order to promote quick weight loss, many slimming pills include ingredients with a laxative effect, such as phenylalanine, bisacodyl and the natural plant extract Senna. Because laxatives encourage bowel movements and emptying of the intestines, an individual will weigh less after taking pills with laxatives. However, as with diuretics, the weight will return with the pills are stopped, and can cause cramps and irritation to the digestive system while the ingredients are in the body.
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