Obesity is a disease that is currently one of the biggest nutritional problems that can lead to the development of several health injuries. The treatment of the disease consists in the change of daily and eating habits or, in some cases, using anorectics. These medications, in addition to treating obesity, are also related to factors such as body dissatisfaction and the standards imposed by society about women’s appearance. This study aims to evaluate and understand the main risks and side effects of the use of the anorectics in women in the state of São Paulo. The method for the development of the present article was through scientific articles on platforms such as Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), PubMed, Academic Google and Science Direct, and the use of online questionnaire disclosed through social media, which obtained 217 responses. When evaluated the use of anorectics and their conditions of use, it was noticed that the most sought drug was sibutramine with 41,94%. It was also observed that there was a low adherence to the pharmacological treatment associated to physical activity and dietary changes. Most interviewed women presented side effects such as nauseas, headache, diarrhoea, mood swings and dry mouth. And 47,50% of the participants did not received professional monitoring, which demonstrates the lack of knowledge regarding the risks of anorectic drugs, since 23,04% see it as a way of quick weight loss.

Obesity is a chronic disease defined by the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that causes damage to health, characterized by a body mass index or BMI equal to or above 30. Seduced by the deceptive promise of rapid weight loss and without much effort, people choose to use drugs to lose weight in order to achieve a “perfect body” without effort and without any medical advice, making the indiscriminate use of anorectics. The objective of this study will be to describe the consequences caused by self-medication with anorectic drugs by obese individuals. It is an integrative literature review, a research technique that gathers and synthesizes relevant publications on a delimited topic or issue, in a systematic and orderly way, contributing to the deepening of the knowledge of the investigated topic, making it possible to draw conclusions about an area particular study, with a qualitative nature and temporality with cross-sectional data collection, the method for bibliographic survey consisted of research based on articles on obesity and its treatment, focusing on the adverse factors described in these studies, the search was carried out in the following bases of scientific data: Medline, SciELO, PubMed, Google Scholar, Lilacs. However, society's awareness of the consequences of self-measurement of these drugs must be performed routinely, as well as guidance on the use of these drugs, since the risks of indiscriminate consumption, without medical and pharmaceutical monitoring of anorectics, are many and can lead to various complications for physical health such as tachycardia, high blood pressure, insomnia, irritability.