More than 50 percent of Americans and Canadians are overweight or obese. More than a half advertising campaigns for diet pills and dietary supplements are intentionally false or fail to reveal truth, according to FTC. This enormous proportion reveals dimensions of this money-generating industry. Consumers in North America spend more than $35 billion each year on weight-loss products.
The FDA investigated 300 weight-loss ads from radio, television, Internet, magazines, newspapers, e-mail and direct mail. The FDA report concluded that some ads promised significant results without surgery, diet or exercise. Other companies claimed that taking their product would be enough for a quick weight loss. There was no need to eat less or diet. Just take pills.
Fraudulent schemes
The main frauds:
1. Manufacturers promise that their pills will deliver spectacular results, without any effort or exercise. Diet pills are presented as miracles. Just a few mention FDA-approved diet pill. 2. They fail to admit completely and honestly risks and side effects.
Many scams have been revealed so far. Here are a few examples:
* Bentley-Myers and three weight-loss products Zymax, MillinesES (both containing ephedra), and Serotril (containing St. John's wort) were brought under an intense spotlight when FTC filed a federal court complaint. The FTC alleged that these diet pills caused rapid and substantial weight loss without diet or exercise and with no side effects. An additional charge referred to another dietary supplement, CartazyneDS, containing glucosamine. This was promoted as having ingredients to cure arthritis and rebuild cartilage in just a few days.
* CortiSlim Lawsuit July 2004. Some CortiSlim TV commercials claimed that human body is able to manage and normalize weight through Cortisol, stress hormone. Charging producer and distributor, public health officials argued that this supplement has no substantiated scientific support.