Although behavioral therapy shows marginal improvement intreating overweight teenagers, the bigger percentage of the obese adolescent population has difficulty following through on the weight loss. A recent study made using Xenical in conjunction with behavioral therapy showed a significant increase in the success rate of managing obesity in teens.

June 11, 2008,  New York -- A recent study done in New York suggested that Xenical, where used in conjunction with a low-calorie diet, behavioral therapy, and exercise, can be very effective in managing weight issues with obese adolescents.

The Journal of the American Medical Association explained that behavioral therapy is proving to be slightly ineffective when used alone in conditioning teenagers to sustain their weight loss. For this reason, they started looking for additional ways to get teenagers to maintain their weight loss in a healthy way.

The group who did the study, lead by Dr. Jean-Pierre Chanoine, were looking for a weight-loss product that has been tried and tested to work effectively. Xenical, a popular weight loss product generically known as orlistat, came to the team's mind because of its good safety profile. Xenical helps its user to lose weight by decreasing fat absorption during digestion. It has been deemed effective and safe to be used by the Food and Drugs Administration.

The test group was composed of 539 obese adolescents who were randomly grouped into two. One group were given placebo, and the other was given Xenical. Both groups were said to have been subjected to a low-calorie diet and workout routine.

After the first 12 weeks, both groups lost the same amount of body mass index. However, after the 12^th week, teenagers who were given the placebo gained their body mass indexes back. Some even exceeded the BMI they started with. On the other hand, teenagers who used orlistat continued losing weight and decreased BMI by 0.55.

It is true that side effects like fatty, oily stools and abdominal pain may occur, but these are normal, mild side effects indicated on the label of the drug. The only thing needed to be expounded on, as commented by Dr. Alain Joffe, are the long term positive and negative effects of using Xenical to manage the weight of obese teenagers.