In the quest for the perfect diet pill, scientists, doctors, and those who are going to use Rimonabant need to understand how Rimonabant diet pills work. Knowing what actions a drug takes and how it affects the body helps scientists and doctors understand what side effects the drug may cause. Recognizing side effects and understanding what causes them can, in turn, help researchers formulate drugs with fewer or less serious side effects.

Rimonabant diet pills work by affecting the body processes that cause weight gain by suppressing appetite to decrease how much food is eaten. Appetite is controlled by many factors. Processes
in the body tell people when they are hungry and when they are satiated (full). Neurotransmitters (chemical messengers in the brain) such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine tell the brain that the stomach feels full. Rimonabant increases the levels of these neurotransmitters causing a decrease in appetite by relaying the message that the stomach is full, thus telling the brain to send a “stop eating!” signal.

Rimonabant diet pill is effective because, in general, appetite decreases when a person feels full. Diet pills that increase more than one of the neurotransmitters may be more effective for weight loss than those that increase only one. Some drugs that work in this way also have the effect of increasing the number of calories burned (thermogenesis).

Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin have other responsibilities in the body besides dictating hunger. For example, norepinephrine also helps control blood pressure. Diet pills that also affect the level of these neurotransmitters interfere with other body processes and produce negative side effects. Other common side effects of drugs that increase norepinephrine are dry mouth, insomnia,
and constipation. Examples of diet pills that affect these neurotransmitters are sibutramine (Meridia®) and phentermine. drug that increases norepinephrine will decrease appetite, but Sibutramine increases norepinephrine and serotonin. Phentermine increases norepinephrine only. As Phentermine, Rimonabant also increases norepinephrine only and it is much safer to use in case you are suffering from high blood pressure conditions.

More on rimonabant and phentermine will be discussed in the following article.