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There is a wide variety of diet pill brands available and some have been around a long time. These include: Metabolife, Xenadrine EFX, Hydroxycut, Stacker 2, Ripped Fuel, Dexatrim Natural, etc.

Many dieters, looking for a quick weight loss method, ask: "What are the best diet pills?" That depends. Before examining individual products, you should be aware of several problems and side effects related to them.

* Because these substances come under the heading of "supplements" instead of medications, they are not required to undergo rigorous FDA testing to ensure they are safe and do what their manufacturers claim they do. Hence, when you swallow one of these pills, you really do not know whether it is safe or effective

* Some ingredients contained in OTC diet pills may be harmful and cause side effects (such as Ephedra when it was used), although the research is still controversial. Remember, these substances are not required to undergo rigorous evaluation such as prescription diet drugs like Meridia, Xenical and Phentermine. Consequently, our knowledge of their effects is limited.

* Some companies make outrageous rapid weight loss claims not substantiated by science or clinical trials, their packages have poor or inadequate labeling, and the companies may have poor manufacturing and quality control procedures.

* There is NO medical or other supervision of any kind, and these products may be easily abused. In fact, teenage girls are some of the heaviest users of retail diet pills, because they are so easily accessible.

At best, these OTC diet pills will produce short-term weight loss, because they do stimulate or speed up one’s metabolism, and act as diuretics. Part of the their popularity stems from the fact that these are inexpensive weight loss aids. A package of 24 or 30 diuretic capsules usually retails for $4.99-6.99, and most weight loss dietary supplements cost about $15-20 per package, depending on the number of capsules (60, 90, 100).

Compare the top 60 diet programs  to find out which type of diet plan is healthy and is right for you. Chances are, it's not a retail diet pill-based plan.

Hoodia Gordonii, the African plant extract that's supposed to suppress your appetite and is flying off the shelves in drugstores and Internet websites, has been getting lots of attention lately. But doctors who treat obesity claim that there is only the slimmest of evidence that this diet supplement works. Even if it does, many of the pills on sale now may contain little or none of the active ingredient. Bottles of Hoodia with 60 to 90 pills usually sell for $20-40 each.

So far, there have been no data on human testing published in reputable medical journals on Hoodia. Even unpublished data are inconclusive or based on very short time periods. Since all nutritional supplements are very loosely regulated by the FDA, there are NO guarantees that the bottles actually contain what the label claims. Unilever says that it tested at least 10 representative samples of supplements sold in the U.S. by other companies and none contained appreciable amounts of Hoodia. Obesity experts have not yet discovered any side effects from Hoodia, but say it hasn't been tested enough to be sure.

Obviously, ephedra has been under intense scrutiny by the government and medical community for some time. Consequently, most all of the OTC weight loss supplement manufacturers have scrambled to bring to market ephedra free products. Metabolife became hugely successful in the mid-late 1990s, sales exploded when it began selling Metabolife 356 diet pills, first through multi-level marketing channels, then retail. However, the company went bankrupt in July 2005 and was later acquired by Ideasphere. Metabolife was hit hard by lawsuits and liabilities of $130 million. The federal government banned ephedra supplements, including Metabolife 356, in 2004 after the herbal stimulant was linked to several deaths and serious injuries. This ban was later overturned and ephedra products are back on the market, especially the Internet. Not all companies have returned to using ephedra, since the controversy remains.

BestDietForMe.com analysts examined dozens of labels of the most commonly found OTC diet pills, at a local pharmacy/chain drug store. We wanted to see what herbs, vitamins, or other ingredients are now being used, once ephedrine (a stimulant) is omitted. Obviously, if one stimulant is taken out, then another has to be added (like caffeine and green tea extract) to speed up one’s metabolism and/or suppress the appetite, and result in weight loss.

It appears that caffeine, hoodia gordonii (an herb) green tea extract, chromium, cellulose, garcinia cambogia, silica, stearic acid, and guarana extract are the most common ingredients now being used, in various combinations and dosages.

In the Fall of 2005, scientists at the Univ. of California, San Francisco tested Advantra Z and Xenadrine EFX and found they increased the heart rates of healthy adult users by 11 to 16 beats a minute--an 18% increase. Xenadrine EFX also contains high doses of caffeine and increased blood pressure 7-12%. These findings indicate that ephedra-free diet supplements could pose some of the same health risks related to previously available ephedra products, such as Metabolife 356 and Ripped Fuel.

Bitter orange extract has rapidly replaced ephedra as a main ingredient in weight loss products since ephedra was banned by the FDA in 2004. Bitter orange extract's main active ingredient is synephrine, which is used in drug formulations to treat low blood pressure and nasal congestion. The UCSF research team advised that persons with high blood pressure, heart disease or any other pre-existing conditions that might be aggravated by the supplements avoid such ephedra-free products.

Caffeine seems to be the most common replacement for ephedra, in terms of a stimulant. However, consumers should ask themselves if they really want to ingest more caffeine on a daily basis (especially if they already drink coffee). The combined amounts of caffeine from diet pills and coffee could easily make one more nervous and jittery at the least. Moreover, the added stimulation from caffeine can trigger panic attacks in people prone to them, as well as cause caffeine overdoses that may result in trips to the emergency room.

Other ingredients: Things like cellulose are ingredients used to make you feel full (fiber) and suppress your appetite. Other ingredients are herbs, which, when combined with other herbs and non-herb substances, may act in ways unknown and with potential side effects. In addition, anything called an "extract" is not a natural substance—it’s chemically processed in some way.

Home | Diet Books | Dietitians | Diet Pills | Family Weight Loss | Fasting Programs | Health Club Diets

Meal Replacements | Pregnancy and Weight Gain | Guidelines For Choosing The Best & Safest Diet Programs