Research
Macro partitioning
Orlistat reduces body weight by inhibiting gastric and pancreatic lipases, thereby reducing the absorption of dietary fats, with efficacy demonstrated in obese patients.
Orlistat helps you lose weight by blocking the absorption of about 30% of the fat you eat. You take it with meals, but you must keep your fat intake low (less than 30% of calories) to avoid unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects. It is effective for weight loss, especially when combined with a hypocaloric diet, but may be less effective than newer GLP-1 drugs.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
It is a potent, specific, irreversible inhibitor of food lipases (gastric and pancreatic), which, by reducing the absorption of fats from the gastrointestinal tract, limits the calorie content of the consumed meals.
Why this rating
Supported by large, randomized, multicenter clinical studies.
Source
Pharmacological Support for the Treatment of Obesity—Present and Future
Marcin Kosmalski et al. · Healthcare · 2023
DOI 10.3390/healthcare11030433
narrative_reviewCited 41×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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