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Eight out of 10 prescription slimming treatments contain powerful amphetamine-like stimulants. The Korea Food and Drug Administration commissioned Consumers Korea to carry out research on use of slimming treatments from July last year until May this year.
According to the report released by the KFDA on Tuesday, 2,116 out of 2,663 prescriptions for 788 patients aged between 15 and 59, or 80.4 percent, included such narcotics.
Some 554 patients or 71.2 percent were prescribed speed-type substances, and 536 of them were women, most of them at the fertile age between their late teens and their 40s. Some 204 or 37 percent of them were prescribed the drugs for more than a month, and 26 or 4.7 percent for three or more months.
Such stimulants effectively inhibit appetite, but if used for four weeks or more they can be addictive, and consuming them for three months or longer can lead to pulmonary disease and high blood pressure. The KFDA and the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity both recommend that such drugs are consumed for no more than 30 days.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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