Undeclared ingredients in weight loss products which could pose serious health risks motivated the FDA to warn American consumers to avoid more than two dozen weight loss products currently available in stores and online which did not need FDA approvals. Alarmingly, some of the undeclared ingredients included an anti-seizure medication and a potential carcinogen. There is a much safer alternative for weight loss which offers numerous health benefits as well: treadmill desks.
Potentially harmful ingredients contained in these products marketed as “herbal and/or natural” include phenytoin (which is an antiseizure drug), sibutramine (a controlled substance), rimonabant (not approved in the US), and phenolphthalein (suspected carcinogen).
America's quest for effective weight loss products often leads to harmful long term effects and to date little long term success. “These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages,” stated Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences. Therefore, FDA is taking this action to protect the health of the American public.”
Americans have heard all this before yet the diet pill industry in this country is more pervasive than ever before. There has never been a healthy, long term, effective weight loss product that remotely compares to a balanced diet and the exercise benefits derived from walking. Study after study has shown that the weight problem in our country is correlated to significant levels of inactivity. Our bodies require much higher levels of physical activity than our busy schedules currently allow. Weight gain, ill health, depression and lost productivity are the end result and weight loss pills at best only delay and exacerbate the problem.
Treadmill desks offer a solution to the problem allowing employees the opportunity of completing their work and walking as much as 5-12 miles a day without sweating.
