My Research
The following is a research project I did this year in my J50 class, which is electronic information sources.
Health Risks of Improper Weight Loss & Diet Products
Keywords Books Databases Websites Essay
Section I: Introduction
From personal experience and minimal reading I have done in the past,
I know that dietary supplements, diet food products, and a variety of
diet pills are hugely marketed in mainstream media today. It seems like
most people I know who have ever undertaken a diet, including myself,
have tried at least one of these products.
Though the negative effects of diet products are not usually stressed,
the usage of diet products is slightly controversial. Most people say
that some of these products do help them loose weight, but some claim
that the weight piles back on as soon as they stopped using it. Health
experts seem to have differing opinions on this subject as well; some
say that such products mess with people’s metabolism in a bad way,
and others say that these products seem to be fairly safe.
I have a personal theory on diet products, and that is that they are fine
to use as a jumpstart for weight loss, but can become habit-forming, tolerance-forming
and eventually “screw up” one’s metabolism, making it
harder to keep weight off without the product. Therefore, the best way
to loose weight is to do nutrition research and take up a healthy diet
and exercise program.
My research on this topic focused on the adverse effects of improper weight
loss, particularly when aided by any sort of diet products, versus healthy
weight loss. I hope to find definite answers, beyond what I have learned
from experience, on what exactly is healthy weight loss and what is not.
Beyond that, I want to know exactly why certain weight loss techniques
are unhealthy, because most people who are dieting do not take the risks
very seriously- they are just happy to be shedding pounds. I want to find
out if there really is a good reason to avoid using these products, or,
in other words, if it is really worth it to use them.
My intended audience is dieters and people who are obsessed with staying
fit. My audience is people like me, who are easily swayed by advertisements
for these products. It is for people who are overweight or contemplating
a diet and thinking about using a diet aid. I think that diet products
are so prevalent in today’s society and media that most who are
dieting have at least been exposed to the idea of using them. These people
should know more about their affects before they make the decision to
use them.
Section Ib: Keywords
UNC Library catalog:
appetite depressants OR diet pills
dietary supplements OR diet products AND negative effects
Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis:
diet aids and negative effects
adverse effects of diet products
Google
ephedra and weight loss
diet products and metabolism
Section II: Books
and Nonprint Sources from UNC-CH Libraries
A.
Berg, Frances M. “Health Risks of Weight Loss.” Healthy Weight
Journal, 3rd ed., 1995.
Location: Undergraduate Library, RM222.2B4741995
Samz, Jane. Drugs and Diet. Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs Series.
New York: Chelsea House, 1988.
Location: Undergraduate Library, RM332.3S351988
B.
Barrett, Cece. “The Dangers of Diet Drugs and Other Weight Loss
Products.” Teen Health Library of Eating Disorder Prevention Series.
New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1999.
Location: Electronic Book Net Library, computer file
Section III: Electronic
Indexes and Database Sources
1. Applegate, Liz. “Fat Chance.” Shape, v17n8 p.62 (2). April
1998.
2. Bispo, Renato and Oates, Jessica. “Weight Loss Supplements: Are
they Safe?” University Wire, Slippery Rock U., PA. 13 Sept., 2002.
3. Blanck, Heidi, Khan, Laura and Serdula, Mary K. “Use of Nonprescription
Weight Loss Products: Results From a Multisafe Survey.” JAMA, The
Journal of the American Medical Association. 22 Aug., 2001, v286 i8 p.930.
4. Duffy, Shannon P. “Fen-Phen: Are Claims Exaggerated?” The
Legal Intelligencer. October 2002. NLP IP Company, Inc.
5. Postman, Andrew. “Sip Your Way Thin and other Diet Lies.”
Self. March 2002 v24 i3 p.170 (7).
6. Sidel, Robin and Schmitt, Richard B. “Wyeth Trying to Stem Flood
of ‘Fen-Phen’ Claims.” The Deseret News. The Deseret
News Publishing Co. 29 Oct., 2002.
Section IV: Websites
1. Metabolife Diet and Energy Bar Recall http://gareth.membrane.com/leflawnet/metabolife/
This website, written in 2001, discusses that the California Senate Health
and Human Services Committee was considering a bill which would regulate
herbal supplements that contain ephedrine alkaloids. It explains what
ephedra is and what it does. It also has articles about a voluntary recall
of metabolife snack bars in May 2001 due to the fact that the product
had much more vitamin A than was indicated on the label, noting that too
much vitamin A can be toxic.
Source: Leflaw.net
2. Adverse Events with Ephedra and Other Botanical Dietary Supplements
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ds-ephe2.html/
This website is an FDA Medical Document from September 1994. It discusses
reports of problems related to diet products ranging from nervousness
and dizziness to seizure and stimulant “overdose” in children
and teenagers. It does not go into detail about whether or not these claims
are true or why these things might have happened, it just urges health
professionals to take precaution and report serious affects the products
might have.
Source: Food and Drug Administration
3. Firm Glossed Over Complaints About Herb Ephedra, Panel Told
http://www.yourlawyer.com/practice/news.htm?story_id=2325&topic=Ephedra/
This document is an analysis of the adverse events reports of 2,000 side
effects of ephedra, including heart attacks, strokes, and even three deaths.
Metabolife International reportedly only found 2,000 of the 13,000 consumer
reports “significant” side effects. A 1994 Federal Law makes
it very difficult for the FDA to regulate dietary supplements, because
they do not have to prove the drugs are safe, like pharmaceutical companies
do.
Source: FDA, from a Parker & Waichman, yourlawyer.com
4. Toxicity of Diet Drugs
http://www.pharmacy.umaryland.edu/~mpc/Publications/Dec98.pdf
This report from 1998 discusses several of the most popular diet drugs
and diet drug active ingredients, and their side affects and dangers.
They stress that all of these products have a high abuse potential, even
herbal products that are advertised as being “natural.” Many
of these products that are being heavily advertised do not even have evidence
of being efficient for managing obesity.
Source: “Toxalert” Newlettter of the Maryland Poison Center,
umaryland.edu
5. Herbals with Known Adverse Effects
http://vanderbiltowc.wellsource.com/dh/content.asp?ID=138
This website has information on the not-so-mainstream herbal diet products,
and explains why people should take precautions when using them. It explains
the known side effects of a few herbal diet aids in particular. It also
has links to teach the reader about dietary supplements in general, amino
acids, and why vitamin supplements.
Source: Vanderbilt University, Health & Wellness Program
Section V: Mini-Essay
The Internet has been a huge factor in the rise of diet product usage.
Diet products have become a very routine and normal method of weight loss,
and the Internet is one of its biggest catalysts. Any keyword search having
to do with weight loss, diets and even nutrition always results in a variety
of websites about weight loss programs. They are all almost exactly the
same. They make a claim that anyone who uses their program will loose
a ridiculous amount of weight in a very short period of time, give a few
diet recipes, and most importantly, advertise several diet aids and products.
This includes snack bars, herbal supplements, “energy” pills,
powders, meal “substitutes” and so on (1).
These websites are almost inescapable. Even if you are not a dieter who
is online searching for diet programs, they find you. I know I am not
the only person who receives a great deal of junk mail from diet programs.
There are also “pop-ups” on the computer screen quite frequently
that urge the viewer to enter his or her weight, height and of course
email address for a “free evaluation.”
The websites for popular weight loss pills and products, such as metabolife
and xenadrine, have similar websites as well (2, 3). They have several
“success stories,” a section about the product, and of course
a store to buy all of the products. There is usually a disclaimer that
warns of possible adverse affects if directions are not followed correctly,
though it does not go into detail.
There has been small controversy over the past couple of decades regarding
diet products, but the field is fairly new, so there have not been many
major national issues. Probably the biggest scandal was in 1997 when the
diet drug fen-phen that was used to treat obesity was reportedly harming
customers. Known fen-phen users were developing fatal heart valve problems.
Fen-phen is in the class of drugs called anorexiants (4).
The Internet has been and will continue to be a huge part in the growth
of this field. And although most of the websites on diet programs that
came up during weight loss searches are the same, if one is determined
to learn the other side of the story, the Internet will allow this as
well.
(1) http://www.amdweightloss.com/
(2) http://www.metabolife.com/
(3) http://www.xenadrine.com/
(4) Smoger, Dr. Gerson. Fen-Phen. http://www.fen-pheninjurylaw.com/Fenphen_article.html
1977.
Feel free to email me with questions or comments at jeparks@email.unc.edu