Is New Diet Drug Really an "Alli"?

Every dieter knows it, there's no such thing as an easy, fast or sure-thing diet. But one over-the-counter pill, Alli, promises to help you lose weight. Action 3 News Reporter Mary Williams put the diet pill to the test.

There are store shelves filled with diet promises, but Alli is the only FDA approved diet drug you can get without a prescription. Alli promises "safe effective" weight loss, but does it deliver?

3 volunteers to put Alli to the test: Ken, Barb and Bernie.

Ken is a college student, he quit eating junk food and after two weeks says he can see results. He says, "shirts are fitting a little better, not so much in pants yet, but I imagine as things progress, that will happen."

Bernie and his sister Barb are dieting together. Barb says so far, so good. She's sticking to the diet and cutting out fat. Barb also keeps a journal and writes down everything she eats, "if I forget to write it, I might just grab that extra snack instead of looking at my journal and saying 'I can't have that'."

Bernie exercises more, eats better and like his sister, takes Alli, "Yeah, I just wanted to lose, I said about 10 pounds, get back to my college weight." Bernie misses the sweets but feels better. After three weeks on Alli, Bernie has lost two pounds. Not a lot, but he's happy with the progress.

Barb and Ken have dropped six pounds each. Barb says, "I am going to continue on it if it keeps giving me the results I want or I still continue to lose weight, it's worth it."

There can be some nasty intestinal side effects if you don't follow the directions on the box. Our dieters are all doing just fine.

Reported by Carlo Cecchetto, ccecchetto@action3news.com