Question:

I read this in the paper today, so it must be true…………    The large Swiss drug company Hoffman-LaRoche is promoting its latest weight loss drug Xenical by soliciting leading chefs to create recipes for low-fat meals to be used in conjunction with this drug.  They want meals that use under 30% of their calories in fat.    Sounds responsible, doesn’t it, as they claim "Xenical is not a magic pill – it acts by helping you do better." However, for an extra US$5000, Hoffman LaRoche wll pay these chefs to "promote the drug by telling people it does not have any side effects and helps lose a lot of weight."     Unfortunately, Xenical does have some side effects: abdominal pain and fecal incontinence. (!) These are primarily associated with eating high fat meals while taking this drug. So while the public service provided by chefs promoting low-fat meals is admirable, it also is a disingenuous way to mask the known side effects this drug produces.     (According to this article.) J

Response:

As I was reading your post, I remember a conversation I had at the grocery store many years ago.  A small white-haired woman and I were waiting in line at the checkout, and we were both gazing at a headline on one of the tabloids: "Amazing Candy Diet!  Eat all you want and lost weight while you sleep!"  The woman got up her nerve and shyly asked me, "Surely that’s not true, is it?" I wonder how many people, some of them desperate, bought that article (and a big bag of candy)? When I was in high school Metrecal was very popular.  My friend’s father kept gaining weight, so his doctor put him on the stuff, and he kept gaining.  After a bit of sleuthing, the doctor found out that the man was drinking Metrecal in addition to his meals, thinking it was a sort of neutralizer… JackieJ

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