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What is Alli and how does it work?
The Alli pill is a lower-dose version of the medication orlistat or Xenical, which is only available by prescription. It works by preventing the body from absorbing fats, thereby reducing calorie intake. People taking the drug should avoid fatty foods and stick to a reduced-calorie diet.
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Is Alli the ‘miracle pill’?
Alli (the brand name for low-dosage orlistat), can be bought by adults with a BMI of 28 or more. GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures the drug, has said that clinical trials had shown “adding orlistat to a reduced-calorie, lower-fat diet, can help people lose 50% more weight than dieting alone”.
All weight loss drugs are designed to be taken by people who also make sensible lifestyle changes. Diet and exercise are important parts of this and should ideally be started before beginning treatment with Alli.
The RPSGB (Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain) says that people taking the Alli pill should eat a nutritionally balanced diet that is mildly reduced in calories. This diet should contain no more than approximately 30% of calories from fat, which equates to less than 67g of fat in a 2000kcal/day diet. A day’s intake of fat, carbohydrate and protein should also be evenly distributed over three meals.
Any diet and exercise programmes should continue to be followed even once treatment with Alli has stopped.
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Are there any problems or side effects from using Alli?
The main side effects of Alli are related to the gut. These include oily, diarrhoea-like stools that may leak. This occurs because Alli (the brand name for low-dosage orlistat) blocks some dietary fat in the digestive system from being absorbed, which exits the body unchanged in the faeces. Other problems can include wind and frequent or urgent bowel movements and abdominal bloating.
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How effective is the drug?
In one-year clinical trials, about one-third to one-half of people achieved a 5% or greater decrease in body mass, although not all of this mass was necessarily fat. After orlistat was stopped, a significant number of subjects gained weight, with some regaining up to 35% of the weight they had lost. The drug also causes a reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
