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WebMD Medical News You might want to think twice about using an appetite suppressant to quickly shed a few pounds off your widening waist or fatty thighs. A recent study has found that a key ingredient in over-the-counter diet pills can increase the risk of stroke in women. Based on the investigation of stroke patients by the Yale University School of Medicine, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel recommended that phenylpropanolamine (PPA) be removed from over-the-counter appetite suppressants and cold medicines. The federal agency is evaluating whether PPA should be discontinued as an active ingredient in over-the-counter medication. The Yale University study is not the first time that health experts and nutritionists have questioned the safety of PPA, the only approved active ingredient in over-the-counter appetite suppressants. Diet pills containing PPA can cause fatigue, insomnia, mood changes, irritability, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythm, heart and kidney damage, and seizures, says nutritionist Frances Berg, publisher of the Healthy Weight Journal and an adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. Products with PPA are responsible for an estimated 200 to 500 strokes each year in people ages 18 to 49, primarily women and first-time users of the drug, according to the FDA's staff analysis of the Yale University study. The five-year investigation of 702 stroke patients ages 18 to 49 found that the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain) was 15 times higher in women who took appetite suppressants in the three days before the stroke. Besides being risky to your health, diet pills are not a permanent solution to controlling your weight, Berg says. The members of the FDA advisory committee agree, commenting at their recent meeting that almost all consumers who take appetite suppressants eventually regain the pounds they shed, FDA spokesman Jason Brodsky says. "People should not be using these appetite suppressants," Berg says Diet pills have gained popularity among teenage girls, who often equate being fat to being a failure in today's weight-obsessed culture, Berg writes in her book, Afraid to Eat: Children and Teens in Weight Crisis. In a study of Michigan State University students, one in five said they started using diet pills between ages 12 to 16 and nearly half of the women in the study group had tried a dietary drug, according to Berg. The lure of diet pills comes at a time when more Americans than ever are overweight. Being overweight - as are 55 percent of adults and 11 percent of children ages 6 to 17 - can lead to serious health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes. An all-time high of 16 million Americans have diabetes, and the rate of diagnosed cases is expected to continue climbing because Americans are getting heavier each year, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. | |||
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