Weight loss pill Meridia is gone; now's the time to drink green tea

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Oct 8 that it has requested Abbott Laboratories to withdraw its weight loss or anti-obesity drug Meridia or sibutramine because of its association with drastically increased risk of myocardial infarction.

The FDA said Meridian, which was approved in 1997, results in more risks than benefits.  A study called SCOUT published in the Sep 2 2010 issue of New England Journal of Medicine shows during a period of 3.4 years, people on the drug lost 1.7 kg of body weight while the risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, resuscitation after cardiac arrest, or cardiovascular death was boosted by 14 percent.

The FDA said Abbott has agreed to comply with the request and media reports said the manufacturer did so reluctantly because it said many studies did not find any association between use of Meridia and increased risk of myocardial infarction.

The FDA advised physicians should stop immediately not to prescribe Meridia to patients and patients who are on the medication should discontinue taking it.

So what can overweight and obese people do now that Meridia has been pulled from the market? 

There are many things people who want to lose weight to do to maintain a healthy body weight.  One thing they can do is drink green tea, many trials have suggested.

More than 40 studies have been conducted on green tea and obesity or weight loss, according to a recent review.  Although the studies are not all consistent, evidence suggests drinking green tea helps maintain a healthy body weight.

Phug O.J. and colleagues from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy in Sturrs, CT recently meta-analyzed data from 15 trials to examine how green tea catechins (green tea compounds) with or without caffeine affect body mass index, body weight, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio.

Involved in the 15 studies published rior to April 2009 were 1243 patients.

The researchers found green tea catechins with caffeine significantly reduced BMI, body weight and waist circumference, but not waist-to-hip ratio compared to caffeine alone.

Green tea catechins also significantly decreased body weight when compared with caffeine-free control while green tea catechins without concomitant caffeine ingestion did not seem to deliver any benefits on the assessed anthropometric endpoints. 

The researchers concluded " the administration of GTCs (green tea catechins) with caffeine is associated with statistically significant reductions in BMI, body weight, and WC (waist circumference)."

Phug's study was published in the Jan 2010 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Dr. Colin T Campbell, a well-known Cornell University nutrition professor suggests that a plant-based diet is important in maintaining a healthy weight.  Dr. Campbell himself used to have quite some excess pounds, but now he is able to maintain a healthy body weight by following a vegetarian diet.

In a word, without Meridia, people regardless of their weight status can still have many things to do to help weight loss or to avoid becoming overweight or obese.

Jimmy Downs