Can a diet pill really help you to lose weight or is it just another moneymaking ploy for the slimming industry?

Pound-shedding 'miracle' weight-loss tablets promise us the easy way when we're desperate to shift weight, so it's no wonder that the slimming pill industry is a flourishing one. Type 'diet pill' into the Internet and you're likely to be inundated with thousands of products promising to help you drop pounds in a matter of days. But how much faith can we have in a market that plays on one of the biggest insecurities that we have being fat? Should we bother with slimming tablets, and if so, which ones?

There are only two drugs prescribed within the NHS.

Xenical is a lipase-inhibitor which reduces the amount of fat absorbed by the small intestine,' says Dr Campbell. 'Patients are encouraged to have a low-fat diet to avoid unpleasant side-effects of anal leakage and oily stools,' Nice!

Reductil is a satiety-enhancer. It makes you feel fuller quicker but it causes a rise in blood pressure so cannot be used by some patients.

However, you can't walk into your GP's and leave with a prescription for skinny! NHS patients must have a body mass index of 28 or more to be eligible for treatment and they should only be prescribed after dietary and lifestyle changes suggested by your doctor have been attempted for one to three months.

Are diet pills legal?
While there are no pharmaceutical slimming pills which are 'outright banned', others are permissible for use only at private slimming clinics.

Tenuate Dospan is one amphetamine-based slimming tablet that the NHS has stopped using, but a friend paid about £50 a month at a private clinic to obtain it a number of years ago. She was not happy with the side effects and said she soon felt addicted to the medication.

Are herbal or over-the-counter pills better?
Zotrim, one of the top three sellers at Boots, appear to be backed by research but it's worth being realistic about what you can expect from over-the-counter (OTC) remedies.

There are lots of preparations, which do seem to have some benefit but the hardest pill to swallow is the truth that we all know.

The slimming industry is a multi-million pound industry but what is the most important is changing the way people think about food and exercise. Ultimately, the responsibility for losing weight lies with you.