Contents

Page 1
If it looks like a duck.
Mona lisa.
Page 2
Trojan horses.
My beef.

Trojan Horses

For many years the drug companies have been developing beta-3 agonists (9). These drugs increase thermogenesis by stimulating the beta-3 receptors (6, 9). But that is just the tip of the iceberg! Fenfluramine is a thermogenic drug (12). Dexfenfluramine is a thermogenic drug (6, 13). Meridia is a thermogenic drug (5, 6). Again, this is not their only mode of action, but they all stimulate thermogenesis.

Scientists know that ECA is the most most powerful thermogenic. For over a decade, scientists have tried to get the medical industry to use this cheap OTC combo. They have even pointed out that virtually EVERY drug that helps obese people has thermogenic properties: "Some of the commonly prescribed anorexic drugs (phentermine, mazindol, diethylpropion) also increase sympathetic activity and in rodents there is good evidence that much of their antiobesity activity is due to stimulation of thermogenesis" (14-NP). Despite this, the medical industry is still guided by the sloth and gluttony theory of obesity and, of course, low-profit supplements are ignored and vilified.

Despite all the prejudice and propaganda, the scientists that develop obesity drugs are aiming at the thermogenesis bull's-eye. Eventually, the drug companies will have a drug that is as strong a thermogenic as ECA with much better appetite suppressing ability. For the portion of obese people who have large appetites this will be a very good thing. High doses of Meridia may be the ticket. Low doses don't look very promising for long-term weight loss (3). Only time will tell.

My Beef

My beef is this: people are being told that thermogenic supplements are ineffective and dangerous substances that should be banned or regulated to death. Meanwhile, the drug companies are busy developing expensive prescription "appetite suppressants" with unmentioned thermogenic effects. Gentlemen, earn your money by creating a drug that is better than ECA instead of working with regulatory agencies to eliminate the free market competition. Admit that your Rx "appetite suppressants" are Trojan Horses: people swallow these "appetite suppressants" and out comes the thermogenic effect to burn off the fat. This omission results in obese people thinking they are finally losing weight because your "appetite suppressant" is controlling their "gluttony." This might be a factor but it is NOT the whole truth. By NOT telling the public about the immense importance of thermogenesis you are perpetuating discrimination against the obese who are incorrectly seen as lazy gluttons. By NOT telling fat people ALL the facts about obesity you are causing damage to their self-esteem and leaving them vulnerable to every sloth & gluttony based weight loss scam that comes along.

If obese people will take the time to learn about the importance of thermogenesis they will understand why all the diet and exercise scams have a near 100% long-term failure rate. Almost everything that obese people are told to do has decades of research showing that it does NOT work. When you learn the biochemistry of obesity it will be clear that conventional weight loss methods cannot work. Knowledge is our only defense. Unless obese people start reading the medical journals, the weight loss industry will just keep repackaging the same unscientific nonsense and we will forever remain on the lose/gain, lose/gain merry-go-round. Paying dearly each time and getting blamed for each inevitable failure.

Written
Feb 1998
Last update
Feb 1998

Here is an eye-opening quotation from the book "Fools Die" by Mario Puzo: "He knew that the true hustler could come back to the same mark and hustle him two, three, four, five, six, times and still be regarded as a friend. The hustler who used up a mark in one shot was bogus, an amateur, a waster of his talent." If you think I am being too hard on the medical/diet industry, well, I'm in good company. Just listen to this startling admission by scientists: "thermogenic drugs ... are rarely prescribed by clinicians today, unless they are masquerading as 'anorexic' [appetite suppressing] drugs" (14-NP). That's right, these scientists actually said "masquerading." That's tough talk for scientists who tend to speak in careful, measured language. You know the situation is really bad when even the scientists can't "mask" their frustration with the way obesity is being "treated."

The bottom line is this: Obese people need to read the medical journals and work to get obesity recognized as a REAL disease. This will spur the development of better drugs and put an end to the hostile regulatory environment that discourages treating obesity as a chronic disease requiring life-long drug therapy. Also, we must not allow safe and effective supplements to fall victim to propaganda campaigns. Obese people are dying needlessly because of a poisonous mix of ignorance, prejudice, regulations, and greed. And that is unacceptable.

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TOC

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