At least $35 billion is spent annually in the US for a wide variety of weight loss products and programs. The field is ripe for scammers because so many people need to lose weight and most are looking for the quick and easy way, instead of the narrow path that requires discipline and self-denial. Below are seven popular scams whose creators have spewed out outright lies in order to make a fortune off people’s weighty worries.
Lie Number 1: Apple Cider Vinegar
Some
naturopaths are making money on this easily falsifiable and non-scientific
claim. They assert that apple cider vinegar:
“(which is
mostly acetic acid) is acidic (low pH), so using for heartburn and the like
seems silly. But they then claim that when vinegar is consumed, it turns
alkaline (high pH). Holy smoke! Is this some sort of magical transmutation? No,
it is just plain wrong. This article also claims that honey is acidic (no
it isn’t) but becomes alkaline in the body (no it doesn’t) ….. It seems that
much of the apple cider vinegar myths are being pushed by two crackpot
naturopaths, who have made a successful business out of making up new folk
remedy treatments. There is not a shred of evidence they work, and you would do
better with conventional and much safer nostrums.”
Lie Number 2: Raspberry Ketones
While some
people apply raspberry ketone to the scalp to prevent hair loss, and some
manufacturers add it to their cosmetics, Dr. Oz made it a temporary obsession
when he trumpeted its use in a segment titled "Raspberry ketone: Miracle
fat-burner in a bottle". Sadly the science was not quite in:
“Raspberry ketones are claimed to cause the fat within cells to be broken down more effectively, helping the body burn fat faster. They are also claimed to increase levels of adiponectin, a hormone that helps to regulate metabolism……
“Raspberry ketones are claimed to cause the fat within cells to be broken down more effectively, helping the body burn fat faster. They are also claimed to increase levels of adiponectin, a hormone that helps to regulate metabolism……
“Even though the word ‘raspberry’ may appeal to people, the supplement
is actually NOT derived from raspberries. Extracting raspberry ketones from
raspberries is insanely expensive, because you need 90 pounds (41 kg) of raspberries to get the amount needed for a
single dose! In fact, a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of whole raspberries only
contains 1-4 mg of raspberry ketones. That's 0.0001-0.0004% of the total
weight. The raspberry ketones you find in supplements are synthetically made
via an industrial process and are not
natural…….
“Some
studies in mice and rats show that raspberry ketones can protect against weight
gain and fatty liver. However, these studies used massive dosages, much higher
than you would get with supplementation……You would have to take a 100 times the
recommended amount in order to reach the same dose as the test animals (NOT
recommended)…….
“Unfortunately,
there is not a single study on
raspberry ketones in humans…… Really, I looked long and hard and I am 100%
certain that there isn't ANY actual evidence showing that this supplement can
work in humans. From looking on forums and reviews online, the pattern seems
similar to other weight loss supplements. Some people lose weight, others
don't, and some people even gain weight while
taking the supplement. It's important to keep in mind that just because
someone on TV or someone you know lost weight with raspberry ketones, it does
NOT mean that the supplement had anything to do with it. Even when people lose,
chances are that it is just a placebo effect.”
Lie Number 3: Garcinia Cambogia
Many
fly-by-night operators made some good money from this supplement scam, all promoted
for free by their hero, Dr. Oz:
“Dr. Oz
calls it ‘The newest, fastest fat buster.’ A way to lose weight without ‘spending
every waking moment exercising and dieting.’ ‘Triples your weight loss.’ ‘The
most exciting breakthrough in natural weight loss to date.’ ‘The Holy Grail.’
Oz claims that ‘Revolutionary new research says it could be the magic
ingredient that lets you lose weight without diet or exercise.’ All that sounds
too good to be true, and it is. Garcinia probably does work to some extent to
improve weight loss, but the evidence doesn’t begin to justify such grandiose
claims…….
“Guinea pigs
on a high cholesterol diet who were given a different Garcinia species
(atriviridis) had a tendency to decrease lipid composition levels and fat
deposition in the aorta. HCA (hydroxycitric acid) caused congenital defects in
rats. Another rat study found that it decreased body weight gain and visceral
fat accumulation by reducing food intake but had no lasting beneficial effects
on hypertriglyceridemia and hyperinsulinemia. Yet another rat study showed that
it suppressed body fat accumulation but was toxic to the testes.
“To try to
make sense of the inconsistent results, Onakpoya et al. did a systematic review
of the published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as of 2011. Their analysis
found a small, statistically significant difference in weight loss (1.75 kg vs
0.88 kg, less than 2 pounds). They commented that the studies all had
methodological weaknesses, so these results could be due to GIGO (garbage in/garbage
out). The two studies with the best methodology found no statistically
significant difference from placebo. Adverse events were twice as common with
Garcinia (headache, nausea, upper respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms).
The authors concluded:
“The
evidence from RCTs suggests that Garcinia extracts / HCA generate weight loss
on the short term. However, the magnitude of this effect is small, is no longer
statistically significant when only rigorous RCTs are considered, and its
clinical relevance seems questionable.”
Lie Number 4: Green Coffee Bean
Extract
This is one
of Dr. Oz’s most embarrassing fumbles. He was called in front of Congress to
explain himself for promoting this “miracle” fat burner and many others that
had no scientific backing, only anecdotes. The supposed evidence published in a
scientific journal was officially retracted:
“Two authors
of a 2012 paper sponsored by a company that made grand claims about green
coffee bean extract’s abilities to help people lose weight have retracted it.
The study was cited by The Dr. Oz Show,
and last month it cost the company a $3.5 million settlement with the Feds.
“Here’s the
notice for ‘Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose,
crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract
in overweight subjects,’ a paper originally published in Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity:
Targets and Therapy:
“The
sponsors of the study cannot assure the validity of the data so we, Joe Vinson
and Bryan Burnham, are retracting the paper.
“The Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) explained in a September press release about the
settlement that:
“The FTC
complaint alleges the study was so hopelessly flawed that no reliable
conclusions could be drawn from it. The flawed study, which purported to show
that the product causes ‘substantial weight and fat loss,’ was later touted on The Dr. Oz Show. The FTC’s
settlement with Applied Food Sciences, Inc. (AFS), which sells a green coffee
ingredient used in dietary supplements and foods, requires the company to pay
$3.5 million, and to have scientific substantiation for any future weight-loss
claims it makes, including at least two adequate and well-controlled human
clinical tests.”
https://retractionwatch.com/2014/10/20/authors-retract-green-coffee-bean-diet-paper-touted-by-dr-oz/
Lie Number 5: The Military Diet
This diet,
also called the Army Diet and Navy Diet, has gained a lot of attention and
popularity because of the inference that all military personnel are physically
fit so they must be on a diet that works. However, the US Army, Navy and Air
Force have all publicly claimed no affiliation with this diet. The science behind
it is pretty shoddy:
“The
military diet is a variation of the ever-popular three-day diet, a crash plan
of ‘fill-in-the-blank’ foods to eat if you want to lose weight fast. These
diets typically claim that you can lose about 10 pounds in three days to a week
if you follow their blueprint to the letter. The meal plans are usually
extremely basic and calorie-restrictive, because let's face it, that's how you
lose weight.
“But are
these diets healthy? Will the weight stay off?
“‘With this
type of low-calorie, lower-carbohydrate diet, you are losing mostly water and
potentially some muscle,’ said registered dietitian Elaine Magee, author of Tell Me What to Eat If I Have Diabetes.
‘Water weight drops quickly as the body's glycogen stores decline, which happens
when you restrict carbs and calories. Weight will come back when you begin to
eat normally again.’ ..….
“‘If you're
used to eating 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day, such a drastic drop will be hard
to do,’ said registered dietitian, Lisa Drayer, who writes about nutrition for
CNN. ‘You're going to be tired and irritable, with difficulty concentrating. It
will be hard to exercise, and I would think you'll be quite hungry as well.’……
“The
websites promoting the military diet say that eating certain food combinations
will boost your metabolism. ‘There is no truth behind claims that the food
combinations in the first few days will increase your metabolism and burn fat,’
Magee said. ‘There's no research I know of behind those claims,’ Drayer agreed…….
“If you search
the Internet for the military diet, you'll probably end up on the top result:
themilitarydiet.com. There, you'll find the detailed diet, with pictures and
tips on how to make it work for you. There are substitutions, frequently asked
questions, a blog, a calorie count, a link to like them on Facebook and a
review that fights back against nutritionists who debunk the diet. Oh, and
there are lots of ads.
“But nowhere
on the page is there an author, an expert, a nutritional guru. No one takes
ownership of this information or gives you any credentials to prove their
expertise. ‘That's a red flag,’ Drayer said. ‘Any helpful diet plan should be
created or supported by a credible person or resource or organization. If
something is out there without any author or inventor, anyone can say anything
and not know how the body works.’ Trying to track down the owners of three of
the most popular military diet sites proved to be a dead end. Emails and calls
to listed numbers got no responses.”
Lie Number 6: Hydroxycut
Hydroxycut
is an alleged weight loss pill that contains calcium, Vitamin C, caffeine, Lady's
mantle extract, Wild Olive extract, Komijn extract and Wild mint extract. The
scientific studies are few and unreliable:
“Numerous
studies show that caffeine can boost metabolism by 3-11% and enhance fat
burning by about 10-29%. However, keep in mind that this is a short term effect and it is well known
that people develop a tolerance to caffeine. There are no good studies showing
that caffeine leads to weight loss in the long term. Unfortunately, I did not
find any studies that tested the active herbal ingredients in Hydroxycut
individually.
“However,
there is one study that used the 4 herbs together (Lady's mantle extract, Wild
Olive extract, Komijn extract and Wild mint extract). In this study, a group of
researchers gave this combination of herbs to chickens and rats. The herbs
reduced body weight gain in chickens by about 20% and significantly boosted the
metabolic rate in rats. But keep in mind that what works in test animals doesn't always work in humans. They also used very large
doses, so take all of this with a big grain of salt ……..
“If you look
around the forums and message boards, for every person who succeeds with this
supplement, you'll see another person (or five) who says it has no effect. This
seems to be the case with most weight loss supplements... some people have
success with them, others don't. At the end of the day, hydroxycut may be useful as a fat burning tool
in the short term, as long as you're also eating healthy and exercising. But,
same as with any other weight loss method, it won't lead to long term results
unless followed by a lasting lifestyle change. Losing weight is a marathon, not
a race... and there are no short cuts, unfortunately.”
Lie Number 7: Meratrim
Meratrim combines
two herbs that allegedly prevent the storage of fat. Dr. Oz called this pill "ground
breaking” and promoted it on his show:
“Oz even
conducted his own informal ‘study’ and had 30 women in his audience take
Meratrim, along with a 2000-calorie diet and daily walking, for two weeks. On
average, the women lost 3 pounds of weight and 3 inches off of their
waistlines. Impressive results, but this is not a real study and doesn't prove
anything. Fortunately, we don't need to rely on TV personalities because we
have an actual human study where
the supplement is given to real people…….
“We have an
excellent study on Meratrim that looked at a total of 100 participants and lasted
for 8 weeks ….. The study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
trial, which is the gold standard of scientific experiments in humans. In the
study, 100 obese people (23 men and 77 women) were split into two groups:
“Meratrim group: The
people in this group took 400mg of Meratrim, 30 minutes before breakfast and
dinner (a total of 800mg).
“Placebo group: The
placebo group took 400mg of placebo (a dummy pill) instead, at the same times.
“All
participants were placed on a strict 2000 calorie diet and were instructed to
walk 30 minutes per day……. In summary, the Meratrim group lost 3.5 times as
much weight and lost 2 times as much from their waists, compared to the dummy
pill. They also had improvements in several important risk factors for disease.
“These are
impressive results, but there is one important thing that is worth bringing to
your attention. The study was sponsored by InterHealth, the company that produces and sells Meratrim. Although this doesn't
automatically mean that the study is flawed, it is definitely something to keep
in mind, because it is known that the funding source of a study can often have
an effect on the outcome…….
“Most people
who need to lose weight have already tried a few "diets." Some of
them may have worked for a short while, others not at all. But one thing is
certain... short-term solutions never work in the long-term. Although the results of that study
look promising, keep in mind that the study only went on for 8 weeks. 8 weeks
is not very long... all sorts of things can cause short-term weight loss, but
it's keeping it off in the long run that really
counts. If
the study had lasted longer (6 months to a year), it is highly possible that
the women would have started gaining the weight back. Unless followed by a lasting change in lifestyle and
diet habits, taking Meratrim probably won't lead to long-term results.”
Additional Info
Federal
Trade Commission Complaint Assistant https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/?OrgCode=SCAMDET#crnt&panel1-1
Busting 10
Diet Myths https://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/weight-loss/busting-10-diet-myths
Beware of
Products Promising Miracle Weight Loss https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm246742.htm
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Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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