Fat Burning Injections: Do They Work and What is the Harm?
What other healthcare professionals call “Fat burning injections” (such as B12, HCG, MIC, etc), I strongly discourage. As a trained Obesity Medicine specialist, I encourage you not to fall for the scam. When looking for an Obesity Medicine specialist, look to see and even ask if they are a diplomat of the American Board of Obesity Medicine.
B12 injections (and other fat burning injections) for weight loss are a fraud, a slap in the face to obesity medicine physicians, and a disservice to patients. Researchers have never found that taking B12 or methionine will help a person lose weight. Clinical trials that have studied lipotropic (“fat burning”) medications are scarce. The two articles that I know of that have been published are on rats. There is however the possibility of serious side effects such as allergic reactions, itching, hives, fatigue, urinary problems, shortness of breath, and swelling of the throat, lips, mouth or tongue.
Other harms include:
1. Fraud
2. Emotional Harm: many patients entrust their care and have a rightful expectation that we would provide care that is validated. When we offer treatment without evidence we open the door to the ongoing emotional injury that many with obesity already struggle against.
3. It erodes the public trust in the medical profession.
4. It harms our efforts as a medical specialty to offer evidence-based solutions to obesity.
There is a time when patients need B12 replacement: if they have a deficiency of B12. This can be checked with a simple lab. Deficiencies of B12 usually stem from absorption problems in the small intestine as our diets usually have plenty of B12 (except vegan diets may lack enough B12). A few examples of conditions that lead to an absorption problem are bariatric surgery patients, Crohn’s disease, pernicious anemia, or patients on certain medications like metformin or acid reflux medications. That being said, most of the time injections are never needed as we can usually overcome the deficiency with B12 tablets alone.
On the other hand, there are many medications on the market that are FDA approved and can in fact lead to weight loss. These medications do have good evidence and some are injectable. Please give us a call or check out our patient education tab on our website for more information (there is an entire video on medications for weight loss). We offer evidence based solutions to our patients who suffer with Obesity or Overweight. We do not offer promises of hope from medications that there is no evidence.
If you are nerdy like me, here are a few scientific articles and resources regarding this topic.
https://www.ajas.info/m/journal/view.php?doi=10.5713/ajas.2011.11418