Laxatives and Weight Loss – Part 1

The rate of obesity in the United States is at an all time high. People are searching for a magic pill to make the process of weight loss simple, easy and painless. Unfortunately there is no magic pill. Weight goes ‘on’ the same way it comes off. If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you eat less than you burn, you lose weight. Simple. (1)

But while the concept is simple, the practice is not. In this high stress, fast-paced world many of us forgo exercise in order to spend time at the movies with their children or sitting on the sidelines watching their children play sports. Grabbing a hamburger at the local fast food restaurant has taken the place of sit down dinners, complete with vegetables and salad. It’s no wonder that obesity is at an all time high!

Some, in desperation, have turned to laxatives. Laxatives and weight loss are not synonymous. Laxatives and weight loss are not healthy or safe. The majority of weight that is lost when using laxatives is from fluid and the health dangers are significant. (2)

The use of laxatives in an attempt to lose weight is often abused. It seems to be common with people who have an eating disorder.

Let’s look at what happens in your body when you take laxatives. After the pill is ingested, the active ingredients target the cells of the large intestines. They irritate the cells and encourage the large intestines to empty, many times earlier than the body is ready.

While the food is in the large intestines the body is reabsorbing some of the fluid before it passes as waste. If you evacuate your bowels too soon you run the risk of dehydration.

The calories from the food you eat are actually absorbed in the small intestines and laxatives don’t affect the small intestines. This means that while the intent behind taking laxatives is to decrease the amount of calories absorbed by the food, the only thing these medications do is cause the large intestines to evacuate AFTER the small intestines have extracted all of the necessary calories.

References:

(1) Centers for Disease Control: Adult Obesity Facts

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

(2) Columbia University Health; Go Ask Alice: Laxative Abuse – Any Side Effects?

http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/laxative-abuse-any-side-effects