Bottles of Empty Promises

Bottles of Empty Promises

Infomercials, commercials, and magazine advertisements appear everywhere in today’s society promoting products promising quick weight loss. Lines such as “lose more weight faster” appeals to the desperate customer with a desire for a perfect figure. In addition to catchy marketing lines, weight loss products are commonly marketed by being endorsed by doctors or celebrities in hopes to increase sales, and with due success as Americans spent over two billion dollars last year on weight loss supplements. This figure has increased substantially over the past years and continues to rise (Heinrich). Advertisements for these various products leads American consumers to develop unrealistic expectations of rapid weight loss that stays off. The growing industry of weight loss supplements continues to hide the other side of their products including scarce, if any, scientific evidence of effectiveness and possible dangerous side effects and drug interactions.

Weight loss supplements generally claim to work in one of several ways; either by boosting metabolism, blocking fat and carbohydrate absorption, suppressing the appetite, or a combination of these ways. Companies market products by advertising “no side effects,” “all natural,” and “money back guaranteed.” Although from reading the fine print on a bottle of weight loss supplements the customer discovers that neither the product nor its’ claims have not been evaluated or approved by the Federal Drug Administration, or FDA. As a matter of fact, any supplement containing an herbal formula never receives evaluation by the FDA since herbs are not regulated as drugs (Warner). Company advertisements claiming scientific studies have proven their product is effective typically use subjects participating in a diet and exercise program as well, thus the product was not a single factor in the weight loss. “A recent Federal Trade Commission report found that more than half of the weight-loss ads that ran in 2001 made at least one false or unsubstantiated claim” (Warner). Thus marketing claims made by weight loss supplement companies should not be viewed as truthful.

Products endorsed by physicians on popular infomercials are not necessarily effective or safe. John Larson from NBC news conducted an investigation airing on September 15, 2006, where a board certified physician accepted five thousand dollars to publicly endorse a product without seeing any clinical trials or testing the product herself. Several actresses also accepted money during this investigation to testify the effectiveness of a product they had never used (“Infomercials from the Inside Out”).

Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietician from the American Dietetic Association, comments that herbal formulas are not only ineffective in weight loss management, but also dangerous in certain cases. Ephedra, which is now banned for use by the FDA has shown a significant health risk associated with use as it is close in formula to methamphetamine. Ephedra does not stand alone in a category of “natural” products shown to cause negative side effects. Kava, another herbal ingredient still used in diet supplements, has been linked to liver injury (Warner).

Jennifer Heinrich, a director of health care for public issues, made a statement to a subcommittee concerning the potential side effects of ingredients found in weight loss supplements. The ingredient yohimbe has been linked to renal failure and seizures, dieter’s tea has been linked to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, bone deteriorate, cardiac arrhymias, and cancer, while dehydroepiandrosterone (or DHEA) has been associated with hepatitis, increased risk of heart disease and increased risk of hormone related cancers (Heinrich). Heinrich also states consumers with certain medical conditions such as diabetes are at an increased risk of potential harmful side effects from weight loss supplements. Diet products claiming to block the absorption of fat or carbohydrates