Orlistat is a drug designed to treat Heavy weight. It’s a prescribed drug under the name of Xenical. The primary function of this is preventing the absorption of fats from the human diet by acting as a lipase inhibitor, to reduce caloric intake. It is intended for use in conjunction with a proper and supervised reduced-calorie diet. Orlistat also reduces blood pressure, and prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes, it might be due to weight loss or other effects. It’s found to reduce the incidence of diabetes by nearly 40% in obese people. It inhibits gastric and pancreatic lipases, the enzymes that break down triglycerides in the intestine.
The triglycerides from diet are not hydrolyzed into absorbable free fatty acids if lipase activity is blocked and instead of this it excrete undigested. Only trace amount of Orlistat are absorbed systematically, the first effect is local lipase inhibition within the GI tract after an oral dose. The primary route of elimination is through the feces. It was also found to inhibit the thioesterase domain of Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS), an enzyme involved in the proliferation of cancer cells but not normal cells. So the potential side effects are inhibition of other cellular off-targets or poor bioavailability might hamper its application of effective antitumor agent. It also shows potential activities mycobacteria and trypanosome brucei parasite.
Dose:
Take a multivitamin like A, D, E, K, and beta-carotene one time each day at least 2 hours before or after you take XENICAL.
Standard prescription dose of 120 mg three times daily before meals, (it prevents absorption of dietary fat approximately 30%)
Standard prescription dose of 60 mg (it prevents absorption of dietary fat approximately 25%).
Prevention:
If you are pregnant. have food absorption problems (chronic malabsorption syndrome)
Allergic to Orlistat or any of the ingredients in XENICAL
have liver, kidney, thyroid, diabetes problems
have eating problems such as anorexia or bulimia
Cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sand immune, Restasis, Sangcya)
beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements
Side effects:
Loss of appetite
Itchy skin, yellowing of your skin or the white part of your eyes
Amber-colored urine
light-colored bowel movements (stools)
pain in the upper right portion of your stomach
Swelling, especially of the legs and feet
Blood in the urine, little or no urine output, frequent or painful urination
Loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting
Severe pain in the back, belly or groin (then immediately contact your doctor for kidney test).
Passing gas with oily discharge, oily or fatty stools
urgent need or increased bowel movement