AboutTodd Bublitz, RCEP Expertise I can answer questions on Cholesterol & Lipids. I can explain how diet can and cannot improve your cholesterol & triglyceride levels.
Experience I have 17 years experience in cardiovascular disease prevention, rehabilitation and education. Researcher in cardiovascular exercise, cardiac function and cardiac testing. I developed and maintain Lipid-Clinic.com
Also run Nuclear Cardiology Research Organizations National Lipid Association
American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association
American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
Question I want to know if all diet pills have to be and are FDA approved, and I aslso wanted to know if steroids were over the counter
Answer Jan,
Every "diet pill" I have heard of calls itself a "Dietary Supplement". This is due to the lack of regulation the FDA has over "Dietary Supplements" according to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Here is a bit from the FDA website: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/supplmnt.html
"FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-Counter). Generally, manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA nor get FDA approval before producing or selling dietary supplements."
Although the labeling of dietary supplements is supposed to be "truthful and not misleading", this is often not the case, in my opinion. I am not a fan of dietary supplements as many are marketed - remember Ephedra? Dozens of people died and thousands were harmed by the dietary supplement Ephedra, which was marketed as a "Diet Pill", before the FDA could remove it from the market.
The answer to your question, "I want to know if all diet pills have to be and are FDA approved?" The answer is "NO, they do not have to be FDA approved" and "NO, they are not FDA approved".
There are two prescription weight loss medications that I know of, Xenical (www.xenical.com) and Meridia (www.meridia.net). They work in different ways from each other and work in vastly different ways from the dietary supplement "diet pills" (which are almost always stimulants). Stimulants as weight loss drugs tend to only work in the short-term (few weeks), can have serious side-effects and may become addictive.
Talk with your doctor before trying any kind of weight loss treatment.
There are many types of steroids. Some topical steroids (hydrocortisone cream for example) as skin treatments are over-the-counter. Steroids for building muscle are prescription only. Steroids for lung disease are prescription only. I cannot think of any other over-the-counter steroid. However, steroids are not a specialty of mine.
