The belief that laxatives will help weight loss, and prevent weight gain can lead to abuse. People who use laxatives for weight loss are under the assumption that of laxatives speed things along the intestinal track, some food will not be absorbed in the body.
Laxative do not prevent the absorption of calories, but rather they affect the emptying of the large intestine which occurs after the calories have already been absorbed by the small bowel.
Laxative abuse can have a serious side effects on health, many related to low potassium levels (hypokalemia) secondary to watery diarrhea.
Chronic use of laxatives can result in serous sequelae, including loss of the normal colonic peristalsis (laxative dependency) and cathartic colon (loss of normal colon function).
Although several types of laxatives may be used experimentally by patients, in the final analysis, most of these patient end up using laxatives that cause rapid evacuations of the colon.
Laxative and weight loss
