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Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

DOI

10.3906/sag-1012-1344

Abstract

To assess how weight-loss diets tend to move away from the authority of conventional medicine and become a field of abuse. Endocrinologists and specialists on metabolic diseases are rarely called upon to speak about obesity, whereas physicians from unrelated fields or nonphysicians frequently appear in the media. Materials and methods: The literature related with the field was reviewed and interpreted from an ethical perspective. Results: It is presented medically doubtful solutions via television and the internet. Several weight-loss drugs are introduced to the market without adequate controls and then have to be withdrawn after having caused serious damage to the health of a significant number of users - and after producing large profits for the providers. Conclusion: The main purpose is actually gaining money or popularity rather than curing people's weight problems. Attitudes, which are far from conforming to human responsibility and the ethical principle of not causing harm, are tainting the reputation of pharmacology. In order to overcome such sort of abuses, the authority of conventional medicine should be emphasized, drug production should be carefully controlled, and misinformation dealt out by non-specialists' advices and the unqualified promotion of herbal recipes through media communication should be prevented.

Keywords

Commercial medicine, medical ethics and diet, weight-loss diets and medical ethics, endocrinology metabolism and medical ethics, weight-loss industry, weight-loss drugs

First Page

951

Last Page

957

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