Starvation 'diet' on sale at my chemists....can this be right?

[Mosaic]

Just curious.....I saw in passing a regime called Lipotrim which my local chemists is selling. It made unbelievable claims so I had a look around on the internet. Seems this is about the same product as the older 'Cambridge Diet'. You basically stop eating, drink only water or certain caffeine-free drinks, and have three or so powdered 'milkshakes' (they aren't real milkshakes) every day. Unsurprisingly you shrink in body mass. Quickly. With side effects.

I'd be fascinated to hear whether anyone has tried these - have they had long-term success with them in losing weight permanently - and is it ethical for a pharmacist to be selling them?
I concluded it was a lot of money to lay down for some short-term torture and possible hair-loss, and that it would be cheaper to shut myself in the coal-cellar for a week with some bottled water....

[starone]

I don't watch them either cazzz, but I watch just as foolish trivia - like The Mentalist, Murder She Wrote, A Touch of Frost. Morse, Lewis. I'm hooked on detective series so I can't be judgmental about other people even though I think they are mad to watch such rubbish. There, I have just done what I said I couldn't - judged.

[chazza]

My friend did Lipotrim a couple of years back (with my disapproval). It used to be for morbidly obese only, to be prescribed only by doctors, but then it became available to buy in chemists so long as you returned regularly for checkups. She would not have got it had she gone to the dr as she would not have been heavy enough.

It's not even as nutritious as milkshakes, as unlike slimfast they are made of water! She did lose weight quickly but also experienced hair thinning and hair loss, not sure if it ever returned to the way it used to be.

As well as this type of diet, they also have a maintenance plan, where you eat one meal a day, it doesn't make you lose weight but it keeps off the weight that you lost in the first place!

It's a quick fix that used to be used for medical reasons, now it's just seen as a way to lose weight quickly coming up to a wedding or something! It's almost banned in Ireland because of the side effects

[Mosaic]

Crumbs Chazza! The poor lass - I hope she's alright now.
If you read the stuff on the Lipotrim webshite (intentional - just look at it and you'll know what I mean) they equate the diet with a drug addict going cold turkey.
Now I don't think you'll get many phamacists offering to help their local heroin addicts stop using, full stop - so why are they selling this regime in pharmacies?
It's disturbing to say the least - and you can seemingly get the sachets anywhere eg Ebay without even a pharmacist knowing.