Doctor, recently some of my friends started to take orlistat to lose weight, is this drug very effective for weight loss? Does it have a lot of side effects? Is it possible to take it without a doctor’s diagnosis? Orlistat is a relatively safe weight loss drug that has been approved by the FDA. The reason for its safety is that it is not absorbed into the bloodstream under normal circumstances and only works in the intestinal tract. Globally, orlistat is available OTC as well as prescription, and generally the information you hear about the product is in the OTC category, just like most cold medications. 1. Weight loss principle. Orlistat is an intestinal lipase inhibitor, as the name implies, lipase is used to digest and decompose fat, orlistat inhibits this enzyme, it directly inhibits the body’s digestion and absorption of fat in the diet, a considerable amount of fat is excreted directly through the feces. The energy balance of weight loss is understood by most people. That is, when the body’s energy consumption is greater than the intake, body fat will gradually reduce, thus achieving the effect of weight loss. Fat is the nutrient with the highest energy supply efficiency, reaching 9kcal/g, more than twice as much as carbohydrates and protein. Weight loss is generally appropriate to control the amount of dietary fat. 2, weight loss effect. If the usual diet is more fat, that is, like heavy food, what barbecue, hot pot, fried, orlistat can effectively block the absorption of fat, blocking the rate of up to 30% to 50%, so the effect is still very obvious, equivalent to “eat but not absorbed” “fatty oil through the intestines The “look. 3, side effects. Fat absorption less sounds good, but pull out on the trouble. One of the roles of fat is lubrication, so it is easy to lead to diarrhea, that is, steatorrhea (a lot of oil in the stool), you know that oily stool, there is a “sour” unfriendly smell! Even the amount of fat in the stool is too high, easy incontinence, to put it bluntly is sitting down with the anus flowing oil, soiled clothing. The side effect of steatorrhea, however, restrains the user’s dependence on a high-fat diet, and those who take Orlistat will deliberately reduce their fat intake, thus forming a habit beneficial to weight loss and indirectly achieving a “low-fat healthy diet”. If the user’s own diet is very light, not much fat intake, just want to lose excess body fat and body sculpting, orlistat will not help much, after all, the drug only works in the intestines, can not help the fat that has grown on the body. In addition, fat absorption is reduced, some fat-soluble vitamins, lycopene and other nutrients that are absorbed in tandem with fat, there is also a risk of deficiency. There are exceptions to everything and there are serious side effects. Theoretically orlistat is not absorbed into the blood, but this is based on the premise that the intestinal mucosal barrier is sufficiently intact. If the intestinal barrier is broken, once a small amount of the drug is absorbed into the blood, it may also cause serious side effects, such as liver damage of varying degrees, the probability is low and occasional cases have been reported. So take a medical check-up before using the drug to see how the liver function and transaminases are; then review yourself and whether you are prone to food allergies, food intolerances and other underlying health problems on a daily basis. Finally, it is not recommended to use any diet pills that hurt your body and your wallet.