by Monica Neave

People spend $33 billion a year on pills, potions, gadgets, and programs that promise weight loss yesterday. Most of these products are backed by “research” and heartfelt testimonials but how do you know when you’re being scammed? In a society where everyone is weight obsessed and frustrated at their inability to permanently lose weight, the opportunities for companies to take advantage of consumers are plentiful.

Most companies that make false claims or use faulty research to promote their products make so much money that they can afford to be reckless. Consumers basically have to fend for themselves and be aware of the problem to keep from becoming the next victim. A good place to start is Dietfraud.com which lists all the latest weight loss and prescription drug lawsuits and news. Their broadsheet news reports the following lawsuits:

"The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit in federal district court charging Rexall Sundown, Inc. with making false and unsubstantiated claims while marketing its dietary supplement, Cellasene, as a purported cellulite treatment."

"Weider Nutrition International, Inc., based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it made unsubstantiated efficacy and safety claims in its advertisements for dietary supplement products called "PhenCal" and "PhenCal 106." The ads claim that PhenCal and PhenCal 106 (collectively, "PhenCal") were proven to cause weight loss and to prevent the regaining of lost weight."

"James R. Cameron was convicted for the manufacturer of the supplement, known as Formula One, without disclosing on its label, as required by law, that its ingredients included pharmaceutical grade drugs. The Chemins Company, which was also fined $2,325,000, had falsely claimed that Formula One was an All Natural Nutritional Supplement."

"The marketers of "Fat Trapper" and "Exercise In A Bottle" have settled FTC charges that they made false and unsubstantiated weight loss claims in their advertising of "The Enforma System."

"Home Shopping Network (HSN), the TV retailer that reaches more than 70 million households, has agreed to settle Federal TradeCommission charges that it aired advertisements for a variety of skin care, weight-loss, and PMS/menopause products containing claims it could not substantiate, in violation of a 1996 FTC order."

It’s scary to think that formula one has been around since the early nineties and even though it caused several deaths the manufacturer wasn’t convicted until about two years ago. Even worst, Fat Trapper is still making outrageous claims on their website about being able to lose 18lb in 28 days. NOBODY can safely lose that amount of weight in that short period of time, much less keep it off. Other products mentioned on their website include Cellasene the cellulite treatment, weightloss patches, and all types of herbal products.

Another great site is the The Healthy Weight Network which puts out it’s annual Slim Chance Awards, for the year’s worst diet products and advertisements. Past winners include the Hollywood 48 hour diet, Atkins, Chitosan, Svelt Patch, and so many others. They have a long list of guildelines to identify fraudulent products or programs including:

1. Promise lots of rapid weight loss effortlessly.
2. Make claims that are not on the label.
3. Claim you can eat anything and not exercise.
4. Relies heavily on guru, testimonials, or before and after photos etc.
5. Uses terms such as, exclusive, secret, doctor developed, breakthrough ingredients or relies on magic food combinations.
6. Claim ingredients will trap calories, carbs, fat, etc. and remove them from body.
7. Declares the established medical community is against this discovery and refuses to accept its miraculous benefits.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve actually fallen for false claims and bought one of the many useless weightloss products. Marketing and advertising people are paid big money to make you believe that what they are selling is the answer to your prayers. What you need to realize is that there is no magic pill, potion, or program that is going to help you lose weight fast and keep it off. The only way to lose weight permanently is to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis. There are healthy weightloss supplements out there that can help you along but they can’t do all the work for you no matter what any company or program claims. If you are thinking about using a weight loss product be an informed consumer and read all the news and reviews so that you know if there are risks and if you’re just wasting your money.