Can New FDA-Approved Diet Pill Help Obesity in Black America?

[BET.com]

Belviq is the first anti-obesity medicine to be approved in the past 13 years.

It’s not a secret that African-Americans bear the brunt of the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22.4 percent of African-American children ages 6 to 17 are obese. In terms of adults, according to the Office of Minority Health, African-American women have the highest obesity rates in the country — a whopping 50 percent are obese. And 37 percent of Black men over the age of 20 are obese.

And while exercising more often, eating healthier foods and cutting portions are the most recommended ways to lose weight, a new diet pill hopes to aid the fight against obesity. Recently, the FDA approved Belviq, a pill that is taken twice a day that suppresses appetite and revs up metabolism.

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