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CNN Live Today

Skinny Pill for Kids Dangerous

Aired December 09, 2002 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Childhood obesity has become such a huge problem that now there's even a diet pill for kids.
Believe it or not, and our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us about the potential risks from this so-called Skinny Pill for Kids -- what is this about?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, doctors are telling me, Do not let your child take this, it could cause kidney damage, it could cause liver damage. It's no surprise that people are trying to market diet pills for children. After all, one out of five American children is overweight, and it seems to be getting worse.

So, this Web site markets what is called the Skinny Pill for Kids, and when you look at the web site, it tells you, Diet, exercise? That is unrealistic for a child to do. Why don't you just have them pop a pill, and they say that this pill works, but when we talked to doctors about this pill, they pointed out that three of the herbs in the pill, one is Uva Ursi, another is called Buchu leaf, and another is called Juniper berry -- that those three act as diuretics. What diuretics do is they basically force the water out of your body, so you might lose some weight because you're losing water, which isn't the way you want to lose weight, by the way, but it can also be dangerous.

The experts tell us that it can cause kidney problems, that it can cause electrolyte imbalances, and it could also cause liver damage if used long-term. So doctors tell us, don't mess with this, don't take it.

HARRIS: Interesting. But, does it work?

COHEN: They also say it doesn't work. They say that there is no science, that all of the ingredients in this Skinny Pill for Kids, and it's basically kind of like a multivitamin with some herbs thrown in, have not been proved to help children lose weight. As a matter of fact, one pediatric expert, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, stated it very strongly. He said it's absolutely outrageous, it is not going to help people lose weight. It's junk science, just disregard it.

HARRIS: All right. So I have to ask you this one, then. If they say that doesn't work, what does?

COHEN: Well, there is no magic pill, and everybody wants a magic pill. Everybody wishes you could just give an overweight child or an overweight adult a pill, and the problem is is that you can't. And so what pediatric obesity specialists are trying to do is trying to develop programs to get kids to do what you need to do, which is diet and exercise.

And they say that studies show that the really good programs really do help children lose weight. What they do is they give kids positive reinforcement for eating well, they don't give negative reinforcement for eating poorly, and they also get the whole family involved. So Leon, for example, if the whole family says let's turn off the TV and go out for a walk, that's going to work a lot better than just sort of saying to your kid, Come on, go out and do some exercise.

HARRIS: The other thing that occurred to me in looking at that Web site is that the promotion of the idea of a skinny kid being a good kid, that to me connotes a lot of problems to me, that kids all of a sudden at a young age will develop body image problems in their own heads.

COHEN: Absolutely. I mean, in addition to the fact that we have an obesity problem in this country, we also have an anorexia problem. One of the concerns here, this is being sold on the Interweight (ph) -- on the Internet, who wants some poor teenage girl who weighs 85 pounds and thinks she is fat to order this, but she could, it's over the Internet. So yes, it causes a real problem for body image and for anorexia.

HARRIS: Thanks for clearing that one up, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 9, 2002 - 11:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Childhood obesity has become such a huge problem that now there's even a diet pill for kids.
Believe it or not, and our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us about the potential risks from this so-called Skinny Pill for Kids -- what is this about?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, doctors are telling me, Do not let your child take this, it could cause kidney damage, it could cause liver damage. It's no surprise that people are trying to market diet pills for children. After all, one out of five American children is overweight, and it seems to be getting worse.

So, this Web site markets what is called the Skinny Pill for Kids, and when you look at the web site, it tells you, Diet, exercise? That is unrealistic for a child to do. Why don't you just have them pop a pill, and they say that this pill works, but when we talked to doctors about this pill, they pointed out that three of the herbs in the pill, one is Uva Ursi, another is called Buchu leaf, and another is called Juniper berry -- that those three act as diuretics. What diuretics do is they basically force the water out of your body, so you might lose some weight because you're losing water, which isn't the way you want to lose weight, by the way, but it can also be dangerous.

The experts tell us that it can cause kidney problems, that it can cause electrolyte imbalances, and it could also cause liver damage if used long-term. So doctors tell us, don't mess with this, don't take it.

HARRIS: Interesting. But, does it work?

COHEN: They also say it doesn't work. They say that there is no science, that all of the ingredients in this Skinny Pill for Kids, and it's basically kind of like a multivitamin with some herbs thrown in, have not been proved to help children lose weight. As a matter of fact, one pediatric expert, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, stated it very strongly. He said it's absolutely outrageous, it is not going to help people lose weight. It's junk science, just disregard it.

HARRIS: All right. So I have to ask you this one, then. If they say that doesn't work, what does?

COHEN: Well, there is no magic pill, and everybody wants a magic pill. Everybody wishes you could just give an overweight child or an overweight adult a pill, and the problem is is that you can't. And so what pediatric obesity specialists are trying to do is trying to develop programs to get kids to do what you need to do, which is diet and exercise.

And they say that studies show that the really good programs really do help children lose weight. What they do is they give kids positive reinforcement for eating well, they don't give negative reinforcement for eating poorly, and they also get the whole family involved. So Leon, for example, if the whole family says let's turn off the TV and go out for a walk, that's going to work a lot better than just sort of saying to your kid, Come on, go out and do some exercise.

HARRIS: The other thing that occurred to me in looking at that Web site is that the promotion of the idea of a skinny kid being a good kid, that to me connotes a lot of problems to me, that kids all of a sudden at a young age will develop body image problems in their own heads.

COHEN: Absolutely. I mean, in addition to the fact that we have an obesity problem in this country, we also have an anorexia problem. One of the concerns here, this is being sold on the Interweight (ph) -- on the Internet, who wants some poor teenage girl who weighs 85 pounds and thinks she is fat to order this, but she could, it's over the Internet. So yes, it causes a real problem for body image and for anorexia.

HARRIS: Thanks for clearing that one up, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com