FTC targets bogus weight-loss ads

Related tags Dietary supplement Weight loss Federal trade commission Nutrition

The Federal Trade Commission last week launched "Operation Big fat
Lie" in an effort to clamp down on false weight-loss advertising
campaigns.

The campaign, among other things, will be attempting to stop bogus claims by dietary supplement manufacturers.

"Operation Big Fat Lie" consists of three programs, including enforcement, consumer education, and direct communication with newspapers and magazines to encourage their support in refusing bogus advertisements for weight loss products.

"False and misleading advertisements are about as credible as a note from the tooth fairy,"​ said Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the FTC. "By working with media outlets to reject false ads and educating consumers to make informed choices, the FTC hopes to keep this national obesity epidemic from getting worse."

To prove that it means business, the FTC​ kicked off the program by filing complaints against six companies that allegedly used at least one of the seven weight-loss claims it had identified as not scientifically feasible in its "Red Flag" education campaign, launched last December.

These complaints include adverts placed in national newspapers and magazines including Cosmopolitan, Woman's Own and Dallas Morning News. The supplements mentioned include one product containing Ayurvedic herbs and three others made of green tea extract (Camellia sinensis) and umbrella arum root (Amorphophallus konjac).

In order to attract consumer attention to the campaign, the FTC has set up a web site​ that appears to advertise a new pill promising to help consumers "Lose up to 10 pounds per week - with no sweat, no starvation!"​. In fact, the site is a link to a FTC warning about bogus products.

In response to this action, Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) noted: "Over the past few years, the AHPA has worked closely with the FTC to develop advertising guidelines for weight-loss products. But only FTC has the authority to enforce the law, and these ongoing efforts protect both consumers and responsible herbal product manufacturers who do have useful products to offer."

Manufacturers who have not been offering useful products and who have recently had complaints filed against them by the FTC include Selfworx.com for the dietary supplement tablet Ultra LipoLean described as a "fat blocker."​ The complaint alleges that the defendants made false and unsubstantiated claims that LipoLean causes rapid and substantial weight loss, including as much as four pounds per week, without the need to diet and that two tablets of LipoLean absorb 20 to 30 grams of fat from a meal.

Pembroke Pines, Florida based Femina has had its adverts for three products challenged, including the dietary supplement "Fat Seltzer Reduce". The complaint alleges that the defendants made false and unsubstantiated claims that Fat Seltzer Reduce causes rapid and permanent weight loss, fat to be absorbed and eliminated fast and easily through the urine and causes weight loss without the need to diet or exercise.

Similar complaints were logged against Natural Products for its "Bio Trim," and "Body-Trim" supplements available in capsule and powder form, and AVS Marketing's "Himalayan Diet Breakthrough," a dietary supplement containing Nepalese Mineral Pitch - "a paste-like material"​ that "oozes out of the cliff face cracks in the summer season"​ in the Himalayas. The company claimed it causes users to lose substantial weight, including as much as 37 pounds in 8 weeks, while consuming unlimited amounts of food.

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