Xenical® (orlistat) is a prescription slimming tablet designed to help people with obesity by inhibiting up to a third of the fat that you consume from being absorbed by your body. When used in addition to a diet consiting of no more than 30% calorie intake of fat it has been proved to reduce a patients weight by up to 10% within a single year. Manufactured by Roche and approved for use since 1998, Xenical has long since been the favourite oral first line treatment for obesity due to is wide suitability, success rate and low side effects. Unlike other obesity treatments, such as Sibutramine and Reductil, Xenical does not work in the brain or central nervous system but instead in the intestinal tract which makes it a very safe and predictable medication.
Unlike the other weight loss medications currently available in the UK which all work on both the brain and the central nervous system to suppress appetite or speed up a patients metabolism, Xenical works in the digestive system to stop up to a third of the fat that you eat from being digested and taking into the body. Usually, when a person does not take Xenical, lipases attach them selves to the fat within the digestive system working to break this down but when Xenical is taken many of these lipases are blocked by its active ingredient attaching itself to these, preventing the breakdown of fat.

Xenical is a very safe drug as it only works within the intestinal tract and therefore does not have too many possible side effects, unlike the other obesity treatments currently available. However, as with all treatments there are some side effects, although these are temporary and should pass within the first few days of taking this treatment. These side effects include oily stools, flatulence and more frequent bowel.