Weight loss pills, including those that are called, rightly or wrongly, “dietary supplements for weight loss” still exist and do damage at least to the pockets of those who buy them.

The answer to the question of the title, according to my experience and the examination of scientific studies in this regard, is no. Weight loss pills don’t work. They can, in some cases, be an adjunct to weight loss. A definition that has however become a marketing loophole.

In the vast majority of cases, in fact, you will notice a similar wording (or “help to” instead of the term adjuvants ) in the packaging of the product you buy.

What does it mean? It means that the slimming pill works as a helper, but that it must be taken in an already low-calorie regime associated with physical activity. However, this means another thing: that, taken alone, our weight loss pill does not work. In fact, going to see the most promising products for weight loss, we note that, if taken alone, they can make you lose a little kilo per month.
This wording also saves the manufacturer. Which can always say that the product didn’t work on us because we didn’t diet. And in the meantime we have spent some money in vain.

What I have just explained to you now applies to 99% of products. Three categories of products are excluded from this premise.

• Weight loss pills that act on the nervous system.
  Generally these are drugs through and through and act on hunger receptors. They are largely anorectic drugs.
  The side effects are very dangerous, because among the ingredients we find methamphetamine. So in essence they are drugs that can have very serious effects on the body and especially on the state of mental health. So much so that in many countries they are prohibited or restricted by law in such a way that their use is almost impossible.
• Another category are weight loss pills that act on the intestine.
  The latter limit the absorption of some nutrients, generally either fats or carbohydrates. For example Orlistat limits the absorption of fats. Among these there are also products with a clear laxative effect (avoid them like the plague) or dietary fibers which, favoring the satiating effect of the foods we ingest and creating a kind of intestinal gel, reduce the absorption of nutrients.
  The unabsorbed nutrient is excreted via the fecal route.However, even these products are not free from collateral risks and their effectiveness is low, so much so that they are always considered adjuvants. They can give rise to dysentery, cramps, swelling, electrolyte imbalance and consequent problems with pressure, flatulence, intercostal pain, constipation, malabsorption of vitamins and mineral salts.
  All things that we could avoid simply by being on a diet, given that however alone we have seen that they have little or no use in the face of side effects.
• Finally, let’s talk about thermogenics of natural origin , for example derivatives from caffeine or guarana or based on amino acids such as taurine or substances such as iodine or algae.
  These thermogenics have a limited effect over time and “upset” the metabolism, which I remind you to be a self-regulating process, which therefore, in the face of an acceleration, takes its countermeasures to defend itself.
  They can cause tachycardia, flushing, liver and thyroid inflammation, dizziness, insomnia. 

  So when they work, these things aren’t harmless either.

  It is not a pill that will make you lose weight permanently or in the long term. The data on the effects of these products speak of modest weight losses in the face of serious risks.

Ten years ago, when the business of weight loss pills was booming and a lot of junk was in the pharmacy, I was asked to write an article about it, so I went to many pharmacies to buy these products (always the same ones). The goal was to register side effects after a day or two of administration, no more.

Being thin myself, and even being thin ten years ago, when I asked for weight loss pills, pharmacists looked at me wrong and in some cases refused to sell them to me, telling me that, even for those weight loss pills that did not need a prescription, side effects were guaranteed.

It was one thing if the doctor prescribed them for me, it was another thing to allow me to do my own thing, even when faced with non-prescription drugs. Out of ten pharmacists, eight refused, a couple of them almost insulted me until I made it clear that it was for work, two finally gave me the product without saying a word.

Were they right to make a fuss of me? Obviously yes. Because the pharmacist knows that stuff isn’t safe.
Today, however, many of these products are found on the internet. But the internet, unfortunately, is not a conscientious pharmacist: I only tell you this. Smart pauca.