Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss

Abstract

The Federal Drug Administration has approved, following rigorous testing, 6 pharmacologic agents and one drug in device form for the management of overweight and obesity. Myriad products that purport to act on physiological mechanisms leading to weight loss also pervade the market with minimal regulatory oversight. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of these products and their ingredients fail to establish any as meaningfully effective at the clinical level. Moreover, safety concerns prevail with adulteration, hypersensitivity reactions, and recognized adverse reactions. Lifestyle, pharmacologic, and bariatric surgical treatments are increasingly available, effective, and safe management tools for practitioners who should council patients, many of whom are susceptible to misinformation, on the lack effective and safe dietary supplements for weight loss.

Keywords: Diet; Obesity; Overweight; Prescription medicine.