Nutrition News, Views and Politics

The European Medical Authority’s (EMEA) decision to pull sibutramine from the market was based on data from the SCOUT clinical trial, which found that the risk of heart attack or stroke associated with sibutramine’s use far outweighs its benefits. This leaves only one prescription weight-loss agent on the European market—Roche’s Xenical, (also marketed as GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli - a half-dose over-the-counter version of Xenical). [so instead of messing with the brain, people mess with their digestive tract and cause not just the fat, but a lot of fat-soluble vitamins and other nutrients to go down the toilet but, hey - they can eat whatever they want!). So the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now require sibutramine’s warning label to include stronger language. Sibutramine is thought to act by blocking reuptake of two neurotransmitters, serotonin and norepinephrine, increasing their activity - although this is exactly how an entire class of anti-depressants work, sibutramine is not effective as an anti-depressant, which leads me to wonder - what is it really doing. The SCOUT data confirm yet another case of putting a chemical on the market they claim they understand, because they only look at what they expect it to do, and not the many systems, pathways, processes they don’t expect it to affect, and then finding out, at the patient’s expense, that oops - very nasty side effects! These guys are making billions because people are just too darn incapable of eating less and exercising more, and teaching their children the same (with a few exceptions for specific genetic problems and side effects of other medications)! And it isn’t only poor willpower - it’s our whole automation-crazy, car-dependent, pedestrian- and bike-unfriendly, fast-food addicted, chair-hugging, stressed-out world!