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If OTC weight-loss pills does not work, what does?

January 20, 2008 in Diet Pills by Allen | No comments

It turns out that 60% of Americans believe that over-the-counter dietary supplements for weight loss are required to have been tested and proven safe and effective.

Not true.

In fact, since the 1994 passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, dietary supplements require no pre-market safety evaluations.

Now a group of obesity experts have banned together in a consortium called the Reality Council to tell people that these products raise false hopes. One member of the consortium said that “people buy these products rather than go into programs that work.”

I wonder what programs this guy is talking about? The last time I checked, over 95% of medically-prescribed weight-loss diets fail to cause people to lose weight and keep it off. In fact, a survey performed by the consortium found that those surveyed had made an average of 15 serious attempts to lose weight — even if they consulted with a doctor.

So, I whole-heartedly agree that the false advertising claims by weight-loss products should stop. But, so should the promotion of traditional weight-loss programs and prescription weight-loss medications that have an equally poor success rate.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition and Fitness

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