Phentermine

1903: President William Howard Taft, at 355 pounds, gets stuck in the White House bathtub. He vows to reduce.1907: Americans are introduced to the calorie and urged to keep count of how many they consume. "Nobody loves a fat man," says actor Roscoe "Fattie" Arbuckle in "The Round-Up." Actress Lillian Russell, for years the nation's pinup girl at nearly 200 pounds, begins dieting and bicycling.1910: The first diet pills are prescribed; among other ingredients, they contain caffeine, arsenic and strychnine.

A University of Maryland Medical Center surgeon who was placed on administrative leave last week after being charged with illegally prescribing painkillers and diet pills was disciplined for similar misconduct in the late 1980s, state medical records show. Anne Arundel County police charged Dr. John L. Flowers, 43, of Severn this month with writing prescriptions for his wife and other nonpatients for drugs such as OxyContin and Phentermine. Police say Flowers had likely written about 100 prescriptions for the drugs during the past year and a half.

The TV soap opera "L.A. Law" is rarely as explosive as the courtroom mini-series that was played out for real here this week, when a feisty diet doctor defended himself against charges that he failed to keep adequate records of addictive pills.During a two-day civil trial in U.S. District Court, Dr. Ellis Turk called his only witness a liar, argued vociferously with a normally mild judge and objected to nearly every question posed by his opposing counsel.There were accusations of conspiracy amid much finger-pointing, name-calling and gavel-banging.

Two weeks after the Mayo Clinic suggested a possible link between two popular weight-loss drugs and a heart disorder, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has learned of 17 additional cases in states ranging from Maryland to California.The reports came in response to an FDA letter, dated July 8, asking doctors to document any cases of heart valve disease among patients who took diet pills used in a combination known as "fen-phen."The agency has yet to evaluate the reports, and the link between fen-phen and heart disease remains unproved.

Dr. Pietr Hitzig -- Baltimore's internationally known Internet diet doctor -- was accused yesterday of having sex with patients, handing out pills indiscriminately, and flouting standards of medical conduct during social flings with those he treated.Maryland's physician board, which brought the claims and has ordered Hitzig to a February hearing, describe the Harvard-educated doctor's conduct as among the worst it has ever investigated. One patient died under his care from "drug intoxication" and another committed suicide in the driveway of his home, the board said in a 60-page report.

One ingredient is a Chinese medicinal herb that has been used for 5,000 years to treat asthma.The other is an herb used as a substitute for the anti-depressant Prozac.Taken together, they are the latest thing in weight-loss drugs.The combination of ephedra and Saint-John's-wort entered the competition for dieters' dollars recently, when Horsham, Pa., weight-loss chain Nutri/System Inc. began selling the herb combination in tablet form in its 500 diet centers nationwide.Because the ingredients apparently mimic the action of the popular prescription diet-drug combination phentermine/fenfluramine, the new product is called Herbal Phen/Fen.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. Not even if you take alli, the latest, hottest FDA-approved diet pill. Brendon Sadowski, 24, knows this well. The 290-pound, 5-foot-10-inch Army veteran says he's "always been a big guy." So he was excited when the Food and Drug Administration approved alli for over-the-counter sale in June. He picked some up and lost 6 pounds within a week, with little change in his diet and almost no exercise. But the gastric side effects - a detailed description of which could well ruin your breakfast - eventually persuaded him to take a break from the pill.

No one has stopped Baltimore's "telemedicine man." Not the federal agents who raided his offices, not the state physicians' -- board that has subpoenaed his records, not the former patients who claim he is a reckless doctor loose on the Internet.Eleven months after the widely publicized raid that appeared to end Dr. Pietr Hitzig's medical practice, the resilient and computer-savvy doctor is still online and running a downtown Baltimore treatment center.He has no examining room, no stethoscope, no lab coat.

NBA 51st pick McClinton seen as combo guard by Spurs After a longer than expected wait, Jack McClinton finally got the news late Thursday night: the former Calvert Hall and Miami Hurricanes guard was taken by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the NBA draft. He was the 51st overall pick. "It was crazy," McClinton said of the wait. "I just heard so many things, hearing the Knicks are going to take you at No. 29. But you don't know anything until it happens." Rumors of the Knicks' interest picked up steam when they acquired the Los Angeles Lakers' first-round pick.

Everybody is asking about the new appetite suppressant, Redux. Does it really work? Is it safe? Have we truly found the cure for obesity?For people with significant obesity, approximately 30 percent above ideal weight, or people who are 20 percent above ideal weight with another health problem like heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, Redux can play an important role in triggering weight loss, which reduces health risks. But for people with just 10 to 20 pounds to lose, it poses more health risks than it prevents.