Alli Is selling off the selves regardless of it's side-effects of bloating gas and leakage. It works by blocking lipase, which breaks down fats in the gut, preventing your body from absorbing about a third of the fat you eat and because you can't absorb undigested fats, they pass straight through your body.
A low-fat diet is recommended to 15g and keep your exercise up because physical activity aids in the weight loss.
To counter this, the manufacturer recommends a low-fat diet and limiting fat intake in meals to an average of 15g. It also stresses that taking Alli requires "hard work", "commitment" and "dedication" and is "not a quick fix". The official website cautions: "If you aren't committed to limiting your fat intake and calories as part of the programme, then you shouldn't buy Alli," and advises plenty of physical activity too.
But if you have to limit fat in your diet to take Alli and exercise, why take the pill at all? Critics suggest that the changes recommended by GlaxoSmithKlein are what you're supposed to do on a diet anyway. They also question how well the drug actually works. Despite the marketing hype surrounding the launch of Alli, it isn't actually a new drug. It is a lower-dose version of a prescription-only drug called Xenical. The active ingredient in both of these drugs is orlistat; Alli contains 60mg while Xenical contains 120mg. "It's a drug that has a modest effect in the short term, but it has limited benefit in the long term," says Dr Lee Kaplan, director of the Weight Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. "If you want to lose a few pounds then it's perfectly fine, but you're not going to cure obesity with orlistat."
Indeed, research found that people who took the 120mg dose of orlistat for a year lost between two and five kilograms more than people who took a dummy treatment. And while the weight might drop off quite quickly in the beginning, the drug doesn't work for everyone and some will lose more weight than others. Research has also shown that people tend to put the weight back on when they come off the drug. This has led critics to speculate that it is the makers' intention for people to take Alli long-term - though there is little evidence about how well the drug works in reducing weight for periods of longer than 12 months.
Although it's not clear from the official website how long the drug should be taken for, Alli users get an online personalized support program and action plan to help ensure appropriate use. A company spokesperson explains: "Although most weight loss occurs within the first six months of using Alli, clinical studies with Orlistat at the prescription dose have shown it to be safe and effective for up to four years of continuous use. The OTC [over-the counter] dose has been clinically tested for up to one year."
