Cracking Down
on Questionable Diet Pills
Aug 08, 2005
As the average American waistline expands under the
weight of our country's obesity epidemic, millions of
plump consumers seek quick ways to shed their excess
pounds. The fever to look thin has spawned a decades-old,
multibillion-dollar diet-pill
and weight-loss industry, in which questionable products
often masquerade as the newest medical breakthrough.
The most recent alleged example, Xenadrine EFX, drew
the scrutiny of Federal Trade Commission lawyers this
month for fraudulent advertising claims. The commission
filed a complaint saying the dietary supplement, a mixture
of green tea extract, yerba mate, and bitter orange,
doesn't cause the "unbelievable" and "clinically
proven" weight-loss effects touted so frequently
on TV and in magazines like People, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan,
Glamour, and Men's Fitness.
Quite the contrary, the FTC says placebo pills in one
clinical trial caused more weight loss than the drug.
Over the 10-week study, commissioned by Robert Chinery,
president of the company that makes Xenadrine EFX, subjects
taking Xenadrine EFX lost an average of only 1.5 pounds,
whereas subjects in the placebo control group lost an
average of 2.5 pounds. (Because the case is still in
trial, FTC officials would not release the study to
U.S. News.)
Supposedly satisfied customers, who claimed in advertisements
to have lost anywhere from 20 to 110 pounds while on
the pills, actually "engaged in rigorous diet and/or
exercise programs in order to lose weight, and some
were provided with a personal trainer," according
to the complaint. The FTC says that Chinery's company
paid some of these Xenadrine EFX users $1,000 to $20,000
for their endorsements, chump change compared with the
roughly $160 million consumers have paid for Xenadrine
EFX since its debut in 2002.
In the past, the FTC has uncovered fraudulent "slimming
insoles" that caused the body to burn stored fat
when placed in each shoe and chromium chewing gum that
caused weight loss without diet or exercise. This past
April, the government agency also filed a complaint
against the marketers of a cream that claimed to cause
permanent weight loss when rubbed on the body.
"We require that marketers be able to substantiate
their claims about a particular product," says
FTC lawyer Peter Miller. "If it sounds too good
to be true, you should trust your instincts."
The real cure for weighty thighs and bulbous hips doesn't
require fancy medications, just discipline, according
to the FTC.
"We know that diet, exercise, and behavior modification
are most effective means of achieving weight
loss," Miller says.
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