The weight loss, diet, drugs and hypertension

The review also included eight studies of the weight loss drug orlistat, sold under the brand name Xenical, Meridia.


Orlistat is also the active ingredient in the over-the-counter weight
loss drug Alli. But the reviewed studies used Xenical prescription
dose, the dose does Alli.

The studies, which lasted for at
least six months, and included 3132 patients taking Xenical, or a
placebo and 610 patients who took a placebo or Meridia.

In most of these studies, patients were also given advice on diet and physical activity.

The patients taking Xenical and Meridia lost more than 8.2 kilograms, on average, than those taking the placebo.


Compared with placebo, Xenical was linked to the average systolic blood
pressure of improved 2.5 points and an average of diastolic blood
pressure improvement of 2 points.

But Meridia users have
registered an average increase of about 3 points in their systolic
blood pressure compared to placebo. "Although [Meridia] treatment
reduced body weight, it can even raise or lower blood pressure," write
Horvath and colleagues.

Meridia is already known to
"substantially increase blood pressure or heart rate in some patients
and should not be given to patients with uncontrolled or poorly
controlled hypertension...