The slimming drug Alli, bought by thousands of people over the counter in high street shops chains Boots and Lloyds Pharmacy, has been shown to trigger severe health issues, including pancreatitis, kidney stones, liver problems or severe fits in people with epilepsy.

In just over a year there have been over 30 cases of adverse reactions to Alli the slimming pill. Alli (also known as Orlistat) reports itself that side effects, include diarrhoea. However, the side effects being reported to drug watchdogs have included swollen tongues, stomach ache and palipitaions.

The Alli slimming pill works by not digesting dietary fat, meaning that fat is simply past through the body as a waste product rather than the body converting it into energy or stored energy (body fat). This means that Alli allows dieters to lose 1 lb of extra body fat per week.

Alli manufactures GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), suggest that Alli is safe because the slimming drug has been apart of over 100 clinic studies with a combined total of 30,000 plus patients.

In January 2010, European drug regulators warned that another slimming pill / anti-obesity drug, Reductil, should be withdrawn over fears it could increase the risk of serious health issue, including heart attacks and strokes.