DOCTORS, DIET EXPERTS SPLIT ON FEN-PHEN.

Byline: Sharline Chiang and Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writers

Unlike her friends who can enjoy chocolaty treats without gaining weight, Sally Joseph left the bakery Tuesday with one plain scone.

Wonder diet drug fen-phen sounds tempting to her; two of her neighbors took it and dropped serious pounds. But potential severe side effects frighten her.

On Tuesday, the Mayo Clinic released a study showing that the popular diet-drug combo may cause serious heart and lung damage.

``It's not worth it,'' said Joseph, a bank teller in her late 20s from West Hills. ``But it won't stop people. When you're overweight you don't think about tomorrow. You think about how to get the weight off.''

Chatsworth resident Leonard Katz said that because fen-phen works, he understands the lure. He uses another drug.

``Some people can do it on their own; some people need a crutch,'' said Katz, a 64-year-old tool salesman.

Doctors and dietitians were split Tuesday on the study's results.

Canoga Park doctor John Barchilon said he prescribes fen-phen. ``The University of Rochester found that by using low doses of fenfluramine and phentermine, the combination worked well and they didn't have any problem,'' said Barchilon, of the Warner Center Medical Diet Doctors.

However, Carole Baker, a registered dietitian in Encino, predicts the study will cause a drop in fen-phen users. ``I think people are going to start thinking twice about what they are doing ... it's pretty conclusive that it's dangerous,'' she said.

Ellen Bauersfeld, a Tarzana registered dietitian, said she already has seen a decrease in fen-phen users in the past year because of reports on the risk of pulmonary hypertension, another ailment linked to the drug.

``In this past year the amount of patients we get from doctors coming into our office for obesity treatment with fen-phen prescriptions is already way down,'' she said.

Bauersfeld predicts the fen-phen craze will pass and be replaced by another drug.