I'm frequently asked "Hey, Mr. Marketing Guy, why are you being so cutesy and calling uncontrolled bowel movements 'Treatment Effects.' Can't you just be real and call them side effects?"
Well, we could, but calling them side effects is actually misleading.
Side effects vs. treatment effects
Side effects are generally unrelated to what a drug is trying to fix and often are harmful.
For example, I take a calcium channel blocker to lower my blood pressure. It also makes me dizzy. But I don't take the channel blocker to get dizzy. If I wanted to get dizzy, I could chase around my 4 kids and 2 dogs.
I take my calcium channel blocker to reduce my blood pressure and to get out of any hard work that requires me to operate heavy machinery (which my drug's label suggests I avoid).
How alli works
When you take alli, the blocked fat goes out the only exit available. If you eat too much fat, the fat excretion is ugly. That's how the drug works! The exiting fat isn't a side effect, it's the actual treatment of the drug. Hence, "treatment effects." By the way, they are not harmful in any way. You are not losing electrolytes, just fat. You didn't need the fat anyway.
And while you are on alli, you can operate heavy machinery. Just thought you'd like to know.