From pharmaceutical companies, and downtown traders, to online sellers, the race to get a slice of the obesity market is cutthroat.
Globally, Morgan Stanley Research made a bullish prediction, showing that the sale of obesity drugs could reach $54 billion (Sh6.7 trillion) by 2023, but this is before factoring in counterfeits sold in black markets.
In Kenya, weight-loss drugs sold in the black market, [those sold illegally outside of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board’s watch] are turning traders into millionaires.
There is such a high demand for the drugs that some buyers book in advance.
Jane Musyoka, a 27-year-old, is among the buyers. After hitting 98 kilogrammes, she says she got desperate.
“I used to be a slim girl, but when I joined university, I changed my eating habits and lifestyle and started piling on weight,” she says.
“In addition to my post-pregnancy weight, I added 42 kilos.”
Five years later, her body changed, and she lost focus on education.
“I felt unloved,” she says.
A university mate told her of a person who had tried obesity pills called Sibutramine. She found them on the internet and ordered from the Instagram seller. [Sibutramine used for short and long-term therapy of obesity was withdrawn for use in the US in 2010 because of an increased risk of a heart attack.]
“I heard that people were getting massive weight-loss results. But when I started taking them, I experienced unpleasant side effects almost immediately yet the seller had assured me that they were safe. That they are made from ‘natural ingredients’. Their labelling also shows ‘natural ingredients’,” Ms Musyoka says, adding, “within minutes I was beginning to get really hot sweats and vomiting.”
She persevered and continued taking the drugs for three days. When she weighed herself, she had lost six kilos.
“I thought, what a miracle! But on the fourth day, I took the tablet and my chest started aching. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. That was my last day with the ‘miracle tablets,’’ she says.
Sibutramine, also sold under the brand name Obesta, works by suppressing one’s appetite and has been discontinued in many countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Thailand, the UK, and the US. However, the drug remains available in some countries.
When it comes to slimming pills and teas, and fad diets, women are the most targeted victims. The sellers say a majority of their buyers are women buying for themselves and occasionally for their partners.
A BDLife investigation in downtown Nairobi and online showed a booming business. Some users who declined to be quoted say they take them daily in the morning, some skip for two days as they try to wean their bodies off the pills, citing safety concerns.
"I started taking the pills last year and lost 8kg by the second month. But I will not buy another bottle. I also can’t allow my husband to take them because I heard they are not good for people with high blood pressure,” says a 40-year-old who weighs 65kg and her husband weighs 110 kilos.
A seller, who preferred to be named Edith, says she started the weight-loss drugs business during the Covid-19 period.
“We all start a business to make money and I mean good money. That’s the mind of every serious business person. One tablet of ‘Burn It’ goes for Sh200, and a user requires at least three packets containing six to notice significant body changes,” she says, adding that the changes start showing in four days.
“That is how magical the tablets can be."
In Kenya, weight-loss drugs sold in the black market are turning traders into millionaires. FILE PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
A majority of her customers are young women whom she sells to through online deliveries across the country. Other customers come to the shop located on Nairobi’s River Road, a populous street with many tiny shops.
“This is a very delicate business. I do it all by myself. No employee, no intermediary,” she says. “In a week, I can sell up to eight packets, it is not easy as convincing power is needed, and also now that the business is crowded. Many people are selling all types of weight loss drugs.”
She says the pills help in shedding weight by increasing metabolism, boosting one’s energy levels, and speeding up digestion. “They don’t have any side effects,” she says.
In a week, Edith approximates that her profit ranges from Sh28,000 onwards.
“Honestly, who doesn’t need such a business?” She poses.
Another seller at Nairobi’s Central Business District stocks pills named Slim Fit with a ‘natural ingredients’ labelling. They go for Sh3,500.
“The 800g bottle contains 60 tablets, which users take for one month. The changes start taking effect after two weeks."
“The pill acts as an energy booster that helps burn fat, detoxify, and reduces bloating, and it has no side effects,” she says.
Rose Namu, also in the business of weight loss tablets, says she has many varieties, including; Medohar, which comes in a bottle containing 100 tablets, Slim Fit with 60 pills, herbs, and phytolacca berry tablets.
“I am not so new in this business, three years of convincing people to buy your products is not easy. One thing I avoid is media publicity. We’ve had many journalists coming to ask questions, some even pretend to be clients just to get to the bottom and know where and how the pills are made,” says Ms Namu.
“The pills eat up your pot belly, and are effective after three weeks,” she says, adding, “In a day I can sell to at least four people. That’s a big number, given the way the business has been hijacked by many people. Now it’s all about your marketing skills.”
Other pills are labelled as “flat tummy capsules, max burn… and the list is endless.
Banice Mugo, a certified clinical nutritionist says, “we will soon have a surge in serious medical issues, arising from abuse of obesity and weight-loss drugs.”
“It’s all a gimmick and if the drugs work, they work through deprivation. I believe in metabolic/ metabolism boost clinical nutrition supplements if one is found to have a very slow metabolism and this is guided clinically by a qualified clinical nutritionist,” she says.
Ms Mugo, says desperation to lose weight is what is causing otherwise sensible people to be so reckless. The majority of people, she says, use slimming pills knowing very well the health risks and factors associated with them.
Nancy Gathoni, a 42-year-old, says the internet has so many fakes that it would be hard to pick genuine practitioners from those selling harmful drugs.
She had piled on weight, which she blames on three pregnancies, a hectic family life, and juggling being a career woman.
“Everything I read and saw on TV said obesity was linked to many diseases and conditions. It frightened me into thinking, ‘You’ve got to do something, you’ve only got yourself here for the children,” she says.
“I visited different doctors, but all they would say was, ‘you need to exercise more and eat less,’ but it was the quick fix that I wanted. I Googled diet pills and loads of sites came up. And the one that I was drawn to showed a doctor with a stethoscope around his neck. I thought, ‘That might be all right.’ I didn’t know that people could set up all these fake websites. I looked through it and there was this questionnaire. It looked official. It was so easy to order the pills on my credit card,” says Ms Gathoni.
Almost all the weight loss pill users mentioned low self-esteem, whether they were obese or not. Many felt isolated and ashamed that they fear confiding in others about the use of the pills.
Mrs Mugo blames Instagram influencers who are compounding the problem by promoting well-toned bodies and aspirational lifestyles, alongside diet pills.
“Instead of glossy magazines, now it is “real people” who are telling us that we all have the potential to look like models; though they all have retouching apps on their phones and can remove swaths of underarm flab with the swipe of a fingertip,” she says.
So, what is the solution to help curb the silent disease?
“Simple, moving more and eating proportionally are the basics of weight loss that last. Weight loss drugs or anti-obesity drugs alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, weight regulation, by altering either appetite or absorption of calories,” says Mrs Mugo.
