What started as a little research to debunk a weight-loss ad ended with me adding 60 minutes to my cell phone bill and filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Follow along as I take you on my unexpected journey.
There’s a TV ad for Lipo-Zap (I changed the name; who knows the legal implications of using the real one), and it drives me nuts. It claims weight-loss benefits that are no better than dieting, which is free. Every time it comes on, I roll my eyes. I know they wouldn’t continue hawking it if people weren’t buying it.
I thought it’d make a good column. Off, then, to the Internet. The Lipo-Zap homepage espoused the same claims as its TV ad. I sought facts to dispel. I wanted the clinical trials they kept quoting. It’s a sporting event to me.
I clicked on everything — “get the facts,” “ingredients” — and there were no studies to be found. So, I called them. What’s the worst that could happen? They’d hang up on me?
Twenty minutes and two phone calls later, all I had was a crick in my neck, an earful of repetitive sales recordings, a few rounds on hold while supervisors were consulted, and a virtual shoulder shrug as to the whereabouts of the “clinical studies.”
Not to be deterred, I googled the “Fatty Research Institute,” my code name for the group said to have conducted the studies (again, have to look out for those legal ramifications). I found a simple, single-page website created in WordPress. Seriously? They couldn’t go to any more trouble than that?
I backtracked to my search results and found a 2005 FTC news release naming the “Fatty Research Institute” as defendants in a lawsuit involving an old weight-loss product. And what else did I see? The same ingredients noted in the 2005 incident were in the current Lipo-Zap. What the what?
I was perturbed. I called the FTC in Washington, D.C. How could the “Fatty Research Institute” get away with this? I know — a tad naïve, but I felt so Woodward and Bernstein.
The FTC folks were nice. By the end of my call, my inquiry turned into a filed complaint.
There you have it — my tiny, quixotic contribution to health and fitness. What started as curiosity turned into action. Increase your suspicion, fellow weight-loss citizens! Quit shelling out money to these bozos. Make them find something better to do.
• Shannon Sorrels is an NSCA-certified personal trainer and owner of Physix LLC in Ahwatukee Foothills. Reach her at (480) 528-5660 or www.azphysix.com
DrLarry posted at 12:04 pm on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Kudos to Ms Sorrels! If a pill or belt or zapper were both safe and effective for weight loss, why would it only be offered on TV? Why wouldn’t doctors everywhere be sharing it with their overweight clients?
Consumers need to be extremely be cautious of the weight loss industry and its claim that these magic potions and machines for weight loss are effective and harmless. They aren’t. In fact, they can kill and/or be very destructive to your health
The only true path to weight lose is eat less, choose well, be active, restructure in a healthy way your relationship with food.
If you would like a little extra help, medical hypnosis and self-hypnosis can be helpful to anyone who is trying to lose weight. Both hypnosis and self hypnosis have been proven to help increase motivation to exercise, inspire better food choices and, ultimately achieve significant weight loss. It isn’t a magic bullet, but it is proven to actually help.
Dr. Larry Deutsch, MD
Family Physician and Hypnotherapist
Author, Calorie Wars: Fat, Fact and Fiction
http://www.DrLarry.com
kimber117 posted at 9:59 am on Wed, Oct 5, 2011.
Great work!! More people need to realize that there isn't a "miracle pill' for weight-loss. The most effective way to permanent weight loss is good old fashioned exercise and meal planning. It may not be quick, but neither was the weight gain. [beam]