Fitness gimmicks fail to deliver

(FOX Providence) - There are a lot of fitness gimmicks out there making big promises to its users, but these products may not bring you the same long term effects as a regular scheduled exercise routine.

Our friends at Gold’s Gym East Greenwich said there are no quick fixes to getting healthy or staying in good physical and mental shape. It is a combination of cardiovascular exercises, weight bearing exercises, and a healthy, well rounded diet.

Melissa Rector from Gold's Gym joined The Rhode Show to talk about some fitness gimmicks you may have heard about including medications, toning shoes, and workouts that claim to give results in just ‘minutes a day.’

1. Anti-obesity medications (Info from Wikipedia)

The two most commonly used medications to treat obesity: orlistat (Xenical) and sibutramine (Meridia.) Anti-obesity medication or weight loss drugs refer to all pharmacological agents that reduce or control weight. These drugs alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, weight regulation, by either altering appetite, metabolism, or absorption of calories. It is common for them to be tried and if there is little or no benefit from them to discontinue treatment.[1] The main treatment modalities for overweight and obesity are dieting and physical exercise.

Because of potential side effects, it is recommended that anti-obesity drugs only be prescribed for obesity where it is hoped that the benefits of the treatment outweigh its risks.

Mechanisms of Action:

Anti-obesity drugs operate through one or more of the following mechanisms:

• Suppression of the appetite. Catecholamines and their derivatives (such as amphetamine-based drugs) are the main tools used for this. Drugs blocking the cannabinoid receptors may be a future strategy for appetite suppression.[citation needed]
• Increase of the body's metabolism.[citation needed]
• Interference with the body's ability to absorb specific nutrients in food. For example, Orlistat (also known as Xenical and AllÄ«) blocks fat breakdown and thereby prevents fat absorption. The OTC fiber supplements glucomannan and guar gum have been used for the purpose of inhibiting digestion and lowering caloric absorption.

Anorectics are primarily intended to suppress the appetite, but most of the drugs in this class also act as stimulants (dexedrine, e.g.), and patients have abused drugs "off label" to suppress appetite (e.g. digoxin).

• Anti-obesity drugs:

Some patients find that diet and exercise is not a viable option; for these patients, anti-obesity drugs can be a last resort. Some prescription weight loss drugs are stimulants, which are recommended only for short-term use, and thus are of limited usefulness for extremely obese patients, who may need to reduce weight over months or years.[citation needed]

• Side effects

Some anti-obesity drugs have severe or life-threatening side effects, fen-phen being a famous example. These side effects are often associated with their mechanism of action. In general, stimulants carry a risk of high blood pressure, faster heart rate, palpitations, closed-angle glaucoma, drug addiction, restlessness, agitation, and insomnia.

Another drug, orlistat, blocks absorption of dietary fats, and as a result may cause oily spotting bowel movements (steatorrhea), oily stools, stomach pain, and flatulence. A similar medication, designed for patients with Type 2 diabetes, is Acarbose which partially blocks absorption of carbohydrates in the small intestine, and produces similar side effects including stomach pain, and flatulence.

• Limitations of current knowledge

The limitation of drugs for obesity is that we do not fully understand the neural basis of appetite and how to modulate it. Appetite is clearly a very important instinct to promote survival. Arguably any drug that would abolish appetite may carry a high mortality risk and may be unsuitable for clinical use.

Because the human body uses various chemicals and hormones to protect its stores of fat (a reaction probably useful to our ancestors when food was scarce in the past,) there has not yet been found a 'silver bullet', or a way to completely circumvent this natural habit of protecting excess food stores. Because of this, anti-obesity drugs are not a practical long-term solution for people who are overweight.

2. Toning shoes

Adapted from: Soaring sales, wary words for toning shoes

The shoes, advertised as sculpting your legs while you walk, are raising concerns about false fitness promises for consumers. Some fitness specialists suggest the shoes could be doing more harm than good. A study released Wednesday by the nonprofit American Council on Exercise found that toning shoes failed to live up to promises made by manufacturers.

“Toning shoes appear to promise a quick-and-easy fitness solution, which we realize people are always looking for,’’ Cedric X. Bryant, the council’s chief science officer, said in the report. “Unfortunately, these shoes do not