Diet Pills — What They Are And Why You Should Stay Away From Them
What Are Diet Pills? Diet pills are made with herbs or chemicals that can potentially aid in weight loss. These products promise to suppress appetite, increase metabolism, or alter the way the body breaks down fat and calories.
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Today’s teens have tremendous pressure to embody the perfect life—beauty, social status, and intelligence—all while coping with emotional, hormonal, and physical changes. To keep up with all the pressure, many teens turn to quick answers for beauty and body image, including diet pills. What they don’t realize, or carelessly dismiss, are the dangers lurking behind these unregulated pills.
In the pressure to be thin and conform to societal pressures, teens are turning to diet pills that come with potentially dangerous side effects.
Weight loss pills are advertised as the quick solution in shedding pounds and obtaining the perfect figure.
The promise of an instant fix has teenagers taking diet pills and disregarding the warnings of health experts against them.
Research shows these supplements contain toxic chemicals that can wreak havoc on teen’s hormones, growth, and mental health, all while their body is still developing.
Diet pills are unsafe for all ages but especially for teenagers because the pills interfere with their systems and result in nutritional deficiencies, particularly of iron and calcium. First of all, teens often turn to diet pills when they are unwilling to change their eating habits. They may see their friends choosing unhealthy options and feel pressure to do the same. In time, the unhealthy foods will take their toll on the teens’ weight and appearance, and then they look for a way to trim down.
This vicious cycle of social pressure and negative body image affects teens everywhere, and it does not rule out celebrity teens with the “perfect life.”
Experts have consistently warned of the threats diet pills can cause and in extreme cases, they can rip apart the stomach lining and even lead to death.
Diet pills often contain ingredients such as phentermine, orlistat, and sibutramine.
These substances may keep the pounds away by messing with the body’s natural regulations but they come with a host of side effects including increased heart rate, fainting, unusual bleeding, and heart attacks.
The FDA reported in 2009 that 69 different diet pills contained substances that could cause seizures and strokes.
Another huge problem with teens using diet pills is the risk of abuse, even if the teen has a prescription. Many diet pills contain ingredients that will harm people and even cause death if a person takes too many at once. Because teens take them with the motivation to lose weight, they often consume more than the dosage on the label.
In the past decade, several diet pill brands have come under observation for causing adverse reactions. Some of these pills help people lose weight by causing more frequent bowel movements or by boosting their heart rate. These pills often do their job too well, causing dependence on the pills for bowel function and spiking heart rates too high. People simply should not risk their health by using diet pills. While they promise easy weight loss, teens will not learn proper eating habits and nutrition by taking them. If the teen has an unhealthy body image or an eating disorder, the diet pill will only mask the deeper issue. In addition, these pills often contain harmful chemicals that have caused serious side effects, including death.
[/newsletter_lock]Teens should stay away from diet pills altogether, and parents should stay alert for any signs of weight obsessions and diet pill use.
