What is going on lately with diet pills and all these warning from the FDA? First there was a warning that Meridia diet pill should not be taken by people with a history of heart disease (The European Medicines Agency said that Meridia’s weight loss benefits are questionable, and they want to take it off the market), which prompted a number of diet gurus to quip something about the dangers of playing with fire. I mean, really? Diet pills are dangerous and not effective? Is that news?

And now the FDA says that there are a lot of fake Alli diet pills out there. A counterfeit version of Alli is obviously very dangerous. It looks very well made, but it does not contain orlistat, the main ingredient in Alli, it contains sibutramine, which is a dangerous controlled substance. The good news is that fake Alli is only sold online, so you can still get the real thing at the retail stores, unless, of course, you are not too excited about the possibility of the so-called Alli-oops effect.

The even better news has to do with the fact that you do not need to take diet drugs to lose weight. If you eat healthy and exercise just a little, you will probably lose weight. In fact, Alli only work if you follow a pretty good diet, so if you need to diet anyway, why do you need to take diet pills?

Anyway, if you bought Alli online and suspect that it is not the real thing, call FDA as soon as possible. Here is the number: 800-551-3989. [source: FDA]