The Use of Appetite Suppressants Essays -- Health Diet Weight Loss Ess

The Use of Appetite Suppressants In the past two decades, Americans and most of the Western world have become obsessed with losing weight. Countless diets, weight loss strategies and gimmicks have been and remain on the market and cost Americans billions of dollars every year. The media perpetuates this ideal of thinness and so people continue in desperate attempts to shrink their bodies. People have gone to extreme measures such as stomach stapling, liposuction and starvation diets to try and take off excess weight. Many Americans are willing to do whatever is necessary to look a certain way, no matter what the cost. Sometimes these costs outweigh the benefits of losing weight. Oftentimes, when people diet and lose weight, they end up going off the diet and gaining the weight back. This leads to a perpetual cycle of yo -yo dieting. Nevertheless, the quest for losing weight remains a priority in many people’s lives. One of the options that many people have taken in attempt to lose weight is the ingestion of various appetite suppressants. The logic behind this is that if one takes an appetite suppressant, they wont feel hungry. Without hunger, the person will ingest less food and by ingesting less food, the person will lose weight. The concept is actually quite simple and has been around for many years. Hunger is â€Å"the physiological need of an animal for food (Lasagna, p.132).† Appetite, on the other hand, is â€Å"the psychological motivation for food intake- which is independent of the individual’s nutritional state (Lasagna, p.132).† An appetite suppressant attempts to lessen a person’s psychological motivation for food, even though there might be a need for food intake for nutritional reasons. Phenylpropanolamine, ... ...rs. New York, N.Y. Morgan, J.P. (1986). Phenylpropanolamine: A critical Analysis of Reported Adverse Reactions and Overdosage. Jack. K. Burgess, Inc. Fort Lee, N.J. Fillmore, C. M. et al. (1999). Nutrition and Dietary Supplements, Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am, 10, (3), 673-703. Silverstone, T. (1986). Clinical Use of Appetite Suppressants, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 17, (2-3), 151-167. Wellman, P.J. (1990). A Review of the physiological bases of the anorexic action of phenylpropanolamine, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 14 (3), 339-355. Greenway, F.L. (1992). Clinical Studies with phenylpropanolamine: a metaanalysis, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, 203-205. Alger, S. et al. (1993). Effect of Phenylpropanolamine on energy expenditure and weight loss in overweight women, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 57, 120-126.