FAQs

A:

Visceral fat is the fat that’s deposited within the abdomen, in and around the vital organs (such as the liver and heart). It is different from the fat that’s stored under your skin, known as subcutaneous fat, which you can pinch, and performs a different role within the body.

Unlike subcutaneous fat, which the body stores for long-term use, e.g. during pregnancy or sustained periods without food, visceral fat provides short-term bursts of energy, because it can be easily broken down and used by the body.

A:

Everyone has a certain amount of visceral fat – we need it for our bodies to function properly. However, having too much visceral fat means that increased levels of fatty acids, hormones and inflammatory proteins are released into your system, which can affect the functioning of your vital organs. This is an important cause of many of the health problems associated with being overweight – such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

A:

Visceral fat occurs in the body naturally, and we need it for our bodies to function properly. Several factors affect the level of visceral fat that different people have. These include age, gender, ethnicity, family history and the menopause.
Your lifestyle also plays a part and the more active you are the more calories you will burn.

A:

A healthy diet and regular exercise can help you lose weight, which in turn can help to reduce the level of visceral fat in your body.

The good news is that even modest weight loss can lead to a significant reduction in visceral fat. Indeed alli used with a reduced calorie, lower-fat diet could help you trim your waist size by a couple of belt notches in six months - waist size was reduced by around 4.5 cm (1.8 inches) on average in clinical studies. In addition, in a small 3 month clinical study, visceral fat was reduced in over 70% of alli users who followed a reduced calorie, lower-fat diet.

A:

Unlike many of the other weight loss products you can buy, alli has been clinically proven to boost weight loss. alli is a weight loss aid that has a medicinal licence. This means it has been rigorously tested in clinical trials. Orlistat (the active ingredient in alli) has been widely studied in over 100 clinical trials and has a well established safety and efficacy profile. alli is the first pharmacy-only clinically proven weight loss medicine that is licensed throughout Europe. Watch our film to see how alli works inside the body to help you lose fat.

A:

In light of the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of orlistat (alli) in relation to liver injury please find below a statement from GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK).

GSK is updating the alli (orlistat 60 mg) product label in the United States to inform people using alli that if they experience certain symptoms that have been associated with rare instances of severe liver injury to stop using the product and speak with their doctor.

The European approved product label for alli already carries similar information.

This precautionary action follows the FDA’s review of reports of liver injury in a limited number of people using orlistat, the active ingredient in alli, that were collected over a span of more than 10 years. The update is being implemented in conjunction with Roche, the manufacturer of the prescription dose of orlistat.

The FDA announcement states that: At this time, a cause and effect relationship of severe liver injury with orlistat use has not been established.

Because of the seriousness of severe liver injury, FDA has added information about reported cases of severe liver injury to the label of the prescription dose of orlistat and alli, to educate the public about the signs and symptoms of liver injury and the need to see a physician promptly should they occur.

Some patients in the reported cases also used other drugs or had other conditions that may have contributed to the development of severe liver injury. Severe liver injury can occur in people not taking drugs and without a distinct cause.

If you have any further queries please contact our Customer Relations team.