The skinny on weight loss

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 8, 2007 by Deseret Morning News editorial

If you have a healthy skepticism, you've probably wondered how anyone can believe the weight-loss claims that some pill manufacturers make on infomercials and in other ads. But the truth is, the companies who make those products would stop if no one was buying.

And after a holiday season full of over-indulgence, a lot of people are looking for a quick fix that doesn't involve much willpower or physical effort.

So to those who have no healthy sense of skepticism, here's the sad news. The only way to safely lose weight is through diet and exercise. All those pseudo-celebrities who claim otherwise on TV are, well, selling something.

Or at least they were.

The Federal Trade Commission had a message of its own to the marketers of weight-loss drugs last week: Cut it out. The FTC levied a combined $25 million in fines for false advertising against Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, One-A-Day WeightSmart and TrimSpa. The products can stay on the shelves, but the marketers no longer can make false claims.

This was a long-overdue move, and it ought to be followed by congressional action to categorize diet pills as medication. That would raise the bar considerably on the folks who make such products.

There is plenty of evidence that obesity is fast becoming a national health crisis. If the consequences of weight gain are health problems ranging from diabetes to heart disease, surely the advertised cures for such a condition need to be tightly regulated. You wouldn't expect to find infomercials pushing unproven remedies for cancer. Why should the government allow the modern equivalent of snake-oil salesmen to push miracle pills for obesity?

The FTC's action is likely to put a damper on the ads, at least for awhile. However, they may not put an end to the so-called "scientific" claims that products really work. For the less skeptical among us, lawmakers should make sure consumers can trust that claims are based on real science.