Calls for Canadian regulation of “magical weight-loss aids”

19th February 2009

Calls for Canadian regulation of “magical weight-loss aids”

posted in Diets |

A team of Canadian obesity researchers are calling for regulations to police the shady weight-loss industry. Drs. Yoni Freedhoff of the University of Ottawa and Arya Sharma of the University of Alberta said that physicians and public health care departments have a responsibility to protect consumers from unscrupulous weight-loss products and claims. According to Sharma, a product should raise red flags to consumers if it promises weight loss of 2 or more pounds a week for longer than a month without dieting or exercise or if it claims substantial weight loss with no change in diet.

“The $50 billion North American weight-loss industry comprises a morass of fantastical claims of products and programs promising quick, easy, long-lasting results,” the researchers write in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“Given this wealth of magical weight-loss aids, why is obesity still a problem? Perhaps because magic exists solely within consumers’ hopes and dreams, which many commercial weight-loss providers happily exploit.”

Any product that says that if you use it for a while, it will cause permanent weight loss is nonsense because that doesn’t work even for surgery, Sharma says. “If I staple your stomach and then unstaple it after 10 years, the weight is going to come back,” Sharma says.

What makes this story incredibly ironic is the ad for the acai berry diet scam listed right below it advertising a loss of 2 pounds per week just by taking a very expensive but most assuredly magic pill.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Diets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On February 19th, 2009, vesta44 said:

What Sharma isn’t saying is that if he staples my stomach, he doesn’t have to take out the staples for the weight to come back, and it will take a lot less than 10 years for that to happen. Been there done that, and so have a lot of other people who now have horrendous complications from WLS that they wouldn’t have otherwise had. So those weight loss drugs are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s also the diets by Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutraSystem, South Beach, Adkins, and on and on and on, that don’t work for permanent weight loss, not to mention all the different kinds of weight loss surgeries that don’t work for 100% of people 100% of the time for permanent weight loss, let alone safe weight loss. None of it is safe or permanent for a majority of people.

posted on February 19th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

2 On February 19th, 2009, richie79 said:

“physicians and public health care departments have a responsibility to protect consumers from unscrupulous weight-loss products and claims”

Umm, isn’t that all of them?

posted on February 19th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

3 On February 19th, 2009, Jen said:

It’s a step in the right direction, Richie79.

posted on February 19th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

4 On February 20th, 2009, Lenore said:

Heh, for a second there I thought they were talking about actual weight loss related magic (yes, sadly spells and rituals for that are fairly common). I’m a Pagan, so I guess that’s where my mind goes automatically when I see that word. I was all set to get offended and demand that if they do that, they should start regulating weight loss related prayers and prayer circles and such.

But since that’s not the case, am I crazy for thinking that all supplements should be regulated as a matter of course? I mean, shouldn’t we be certain that anything sold isn’t going to poison you and should follow the law with regards to truth in advertising? Why is this not done already?

posted on February 20th, 2009 at 4:41 am

5 On February 20th, 2009, richie79 said:

Agreed Jen. My only concern being that by sorting diets and weight-loss aids into those that ‘work’ and those that only lighten one’s wallet, they’re still promoting the falsehood that the first category exists (and potentially ‘endorsing’ them) whilst failing to challenge the truisms and assumptions about intentional weight loss.

But yes, a step in the right direction indeed.

posted on February 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm

6 On February 20th, 2009, Rachel said:

Richie: The bigger difference between weight-loss supplements and diets like Atkins and Weight Watchers is that the latter don’t require the consumption of a pill containing unregulated and potentially deadly ingredients.

posted on February 20th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

7 On February 21st, 2009, FatNSassy said:

What Vesta said. Yes, it is good that they are getting these quack products off the market. But perhaps these obesity researchers just want to eliminate the competition so they can have a greater share of the market for their “legitimate” products. You know, the ones that kill or injure with the full approval of governments and medical associations!

posted on February 21st, 2009 at 1:54 pm

8 On February 24th, 2009, Taylor said:

This is wonderful news. So many people don’t understand how weight loss truly works. You really shouldn’t be losing any more than 8 pounds a month. Any more then that and you’re probably starving yourself thus, your body actually begins to eat it’s muscle.

I’m taking a nutrition class. Many people just don’t get it. If you want to lose, cut 500 calories from you diet, eat natural and healthy foods, and workout.

posted on February 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

9 On February 25th, 2009, Mike said:

Wow that is great news, I’ve been saying for years that the unrealistic things that companies tell poor people trying to lose weight add to the depression when they can’t. The problem is the weight-loss industry wants people to fail, because with failure comes from more purchases.
The truth is there are no secrets.

posted on February 25th, 2009 at 1:08 am