£1-a-day slimming pill that promises to make women drop a dress size will go on sale in months

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Alli pill: Some worry that the slimming pill will be used as a quick fix

A slimming pill said to help women drop a dress size could be available over the counter within months.

Taking an Alli tablet with every meal is claimed to cause 50 per cent more weight loss than willpower alone.

The £1-a-day drug - the first of its kind to be sold without prescription - promises to cut the weight of men and women by between 5 and 10 per cent in four months.

Around a quarter of those taking Alli are said to find their weight drops by at least a tenth.

For an 11-stone woman, this would mean shedding more than a stone - or a dress size.

After a successful launch in the U.S., where sales have reached £75million in six months, GlaxoSmithKline is preparing to put Alli on chemists' shelves in the UK.

The pill is a half- strength version of the prescription- only Xenical and is intended to be a supplement to a healthy diet and regular exercise.

A spokesman said: "The bonus of taking it is that by just dieting and exercising you can safely lose two pounds in a week.

"We say you can lose 50 per cent more, so instead of losing two pounds, you lose three and reach your goal weight a little bit quicker.

"It's a motivational thing."

Glaxo has applied for a licence to sell Alli in Britain with a view to launching it next year.

The drug will be displayed behind rather than in front of the counter, and packaging is likely to contain information on healthy eating and details of a weight-loss support website.

But despite Glaxo's pledge to market the drug "responsibly", there will be concerns that it will be being used as a quick fix to a problem which can also be tackled by diet and exercise.

Growing reliance on fast food and time-saving technology has landed Britain with the worst weight problem in Europe - and the second-worst in the developed world after the U.S.

Experts have warned that unless urgent action is taken, an entire generation faces an old age blighted by heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases brought on by obesity.

Alli works by stopping the body from absorbing fat in food.

This undigested fat cannot be absorbed and so, rather than being stored, it passes through the body.

Such a mechanism does, however, have unpleasant side- effects, with dieters prone to wind and diarrhoea, or in Glaxo's words, "an urgent need to go to the bathroom".

The drug can also interfere with the absorption of some vitamins, and slimmers are advised to supplement their diet with a daily multi-vitamin pill.

Dieters should also be aware that severe diarrhoea can cut the effectiveness of the oral contraceptive pill.

Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at Bristol University, said that many would find the side- effects unpleasant and warned that diet pills are no substitute for a healthy lifestyle.

In an editorial in the British Medical Journal, he said: 'Possibly, few users will even finish their first pack of Alli, let alone buy a second, and the drug may cause only a small and transient downward blip in the otherwise inexorable climb in weight.

"Selling anti- obesity drugs over the counter will perpetuate the myth that obesity can be fixed simply by popping a pill and could further undermine efforts to promote healthy living, which is the only long-term escape from obesity."

He added that weight loss seen in clinical trials, where dieters are highly motivated and under medical supervision, is unlikely to be replicated in the general population.

Promoting a more natural alternative, he said: "People tempted to try Alli might be advised that taking it without medical supervision may achieve an average daily energy deficit of only 100kcal - equivalent to leaving a few French fries on a plate, eating an apple instead of ice cream or (depending on enthusiasm and fitness) having ten to 20 minutes of sex."

IT HELPED ME GO FROM A SIZE 22 TO A TEN

Gill Coleyshaw weighed 14 stone and was a size 22 when she turned to diet pills.

The mother of one, now 59, had struggled with her weight for years, shedding pounds on diet after diet before quickly piling it all back on again.

The turning point came when she was diagnosed with a heart problem shortly after retiring as a bank manager in 2005.

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Before: Gill Coleyshaw was 14 stone; After: At 9st 10lb she feels 'wonderful' (right)

Determined to get into shape, she visited Boots, where the pharmacist gave her healthy eating advice, along with a supply of Alli's sister drug Xenical.

The combination of Xenical, a low-fat diet and regular exercise led to her weight dropping dramatically and today she weighs a healthy 9st 10lb and is a size 10.

As a bonus, her partner George Fewtrell, a 52-year-old chartered surveyor, has shed almost five stone, simply by eating the same healthy meals.

"The weight seemed to drop off me," she said at home in West Bromwich.

"I feel absolutely wonderful - I've never been healthier in my life.

"The best thing is the confidence it has given me. And I can walk into any clothes shop and know there will be something that will fit me.

"I really feel on top of the world."

 

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