Orlistat, marketed as a prescription under the trade name Xenical or over-the-counter as Alli, is a drug designed to promote weight loss by preventing the absorption of fats from the diet. In a new study published in the January 25, 2010 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers report that eating a low carbohydrate diet leads to similar improvements in weight loss as orlistat combined with a low fat diet.

Investigators from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and Duke University Medical Center compared two potential weight loss therapies – a low carb diet and orlistat therapy combined with a low fat diet – among 122 overweight or obese patients over a period of 48 weeks. The average age of the study participants was 52 years and their average body mass index (BMI) was 39.3. Among these patients, 72 percent were men, 55 percent were African American, and 32 percent had type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that, after 48 weeks, weight loss was similar for the low carb diet and orlistat groups. Improvements in cholesterol and triglyceride were also similar between the two groups. However, a low carbohydrate diet had a more beneficial effect in lowering blood pressure.

Based on the findings of this study, a low carbohydrate diet is at least as good as orlistat plus a low fat diet for the purpose of weight loss, but a low carb diet seemed to more effective in lower blood pressure. However, this study would need to be confirmed among the general population, as most of the participants in this study were men.

Source:

Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(2):136-145.

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