In a word – “YES”. FDA approved diet pills are safer and more effective than those that have not been through the Approval process. The process is a straight forward, yet lengthy process. It can take anywhere from 8 to 10 years for a drug to be approved. So what does that really mean?

Well first, the FDA requires three stages of clinical trials. The first stage determines the side effects and the body’s reaction to the drug. The doctors try to determine the effectiveness of the drug if possible.

The second stage is to determine the efficacy of the drug and its ability to treat humans for a particular disease or set of conditions. At this stage, the drug is tested on up to several hundred patients.

The last stage is to continue testing on an even larger group, and extrapolate the results within the testing group. It is at this stage, the total effectiveness and safety is determined. FDA approved diet pills go through all stages of these trials just as any medication would.

Once a company completes the trials, it applies to the FDA for approval. The data from the trials is used to show that the drug is safe and effective for treatment of a particular condition and is relatively safe for human consumption.

The final stage of the process is for the FDA to visit the manufacturing facility and determine if the manufacturing methods are adequate for ensuring the purity and integrity of the drug being reviewed.

There is one FDA approved diet pill that comes to mind and that is Xenical. The FDA has given its ‘blessing’ to the safety and effectiveness to this drug, as well as ‘blessed’ the process to manufacture it. But just because it is an FDA approved diet pill, doesn’t mean it is without side effects, but rather, this new FDA approved diet pill has benefits that far outweigh the side effects.

So, are FDA approved diet pills safer and more effective? The answer lies with the knowledge that someone has at least reviewed the drug and the manufacturing process. Non FDA approved diet pills may be just as safe and just as effective; they just don’t bear the seal of approval from the FDA.