| False campaignsMore than 50 percent of Americans | | | | Metabolife supplement and brain damages A jury in |
| and Canadians are overweight or obese. More than a | | | | Houston awarded $7.4 million to a woman who |
| half the advertising campaigns for diet pills and | | | | suffered brain damage in a stroke, as a consequence |
| dietary supplements are intentionally false or fail to | | | | of taking the Metabolife supplement to lose weight. |
| reveal the truth, according to the FTC. This | | | | She had been persuaded by commercials that this |
| enormous proportion reveals the dimensions of this | | | | supplement was safe and had no side effects.* |
| money-generating industry. Consumers in North | | | | Mendacious campaigns for the Ephedra-based |
| America spend more than $35 billion each year on | | | | supplement Trimspa An American hypnotist, Alex |
| weight-loss products.The FDA investigated 300 | | | | Szynalski, and a former Playboy Bunny (Anna Nicole |
| weight-loss ads from the radio, television, the | | | | Smith) joined in a Trimspa commercial which was |
| Internet, magazines, newspapers, e-mail and direct | | | | considered "deceptive advertising" by the New |
| mail. The FDA report concluded that some ads | | | | Jersey Attorney General. The hypnotist was accused |
| promised significant results without surgery, diet or | | | | of luring consumers to his Goen Lose Weight |
| exercise. Other companies claimed that taking their | | | | Hypnosis seminars and then tempting them to buy |
| product would be enough for a quick weight loss. | | | | the Trimspa supplements he produced.* Kava Kava |
| There was no need to eat less or diet. Just take | | | | stop sales. Health Canada launched a public warning |
| pills.Fraudulent schemesThe main frauds:1. | | | | that this herb, found in supplements and sometimes |
| Manufacturers promise that their pills will deliver | | | | in food is under suspicion. Its consumption was linked |
| spectacular results, without any effort or exercise. | | | | to liver disfunction and toxicity. FDA warned that the |
| Diet pills are presented as miracles. Just a few | | | | Kava extract is delivered under many other names |
| mention the FDA-approved diet pill.2. They fail to | | | | which are difficult to find on the label (kava, kava |
| admit completely and honestly the risks and side | | | | kava, kava-kava, kava root, kava-kava root, kavain, |
| effects.Many scams have been revealed so far. Here | | | | kava pepper, kavapipar, kawa, kawa kawa, kawa |
| are a few examples:* Bentley-Myers and three | | | | pepper, kawapfeffer, maori kava, rhizoma di |
| weight-loss products Zymax, MillinesES (both | | | | kava-kava, ava, ava pepper, ava root, awa, gea, gi, |
| containing ephedra), and Serotril (containing St. John's | | | | intoxicating pepper, intoxicating long pepper, kao, |
| wort) were brought under an intense spotlight when | | | | Piper methysticum, Macropiper Latifolium, Piper |
| the FTC filed a federal court complaint. The FTC | | | | inebrians, Malohu, maluk, meruk, milik, kew, |
| alleged that these diet pills caused rapid and | | | | Rauschpfeffer, sakau, tonga, Wurzelstock, yagona, |
| substantial weight loss without diet or exercise and | | | | yangona, yaqona, yongona).* The invisible Zoller |
| with no side effects. An additional charge referred to | | | | laboratories. Intrigued by the name of diet pills |
| another dietary supplement, CartazyneDS, containing | | | | suggested to be taken by Britney Spears, somebody |
| glucosamine. This was promoted as having the | | | | tried to identify the producer of Zantrex 3. Zoller |
| ingredients to cure arthritis and rebuild cartilage in just | | | | laboratories, apparently producing Zantrex 3, were |
| a few days.* CortiSlim Lawsuit July 2004 Some | | | | not listed in any database. They were just a firm |
| CortiSlim TV commercials claimed that the human | | | | created by Basic Research, the company distributing |
| body is able to manage and normalize weight through | | | | Zantrex 3, for fear that its real name would sound |
| Cortisol, the stress hormone. Charging the producer | | | | too scientific to the public. The confusion induced by |
| and distributor, public health officials argued that this | | | | this phantom company nevertheless affected the |
| supplement has no substantiated scientific support.* | | | | credibility of the company. |