Health Product Failures, The Truth Behind Weight Loss

HEALTH PRODUCT FAILURES THE TRUTH BEHIND WEIGHT-LOss Today more so than ever, Americans are suffering with weight issues such as obesity. Self-proclaimed weight loss specialists have been quick to jump on this epidemic by creating products that capitalize on these struggles. Unfortunately, it seems more and more that people are falling prey to unsubstantiated claims and falsehoods in how these products are advertised and what they claim to do. THE FACTS & FIGURES $20 BILLION $61 BILLION $61.6 BILLION The annual revenue for the At the end of 2010, the value of the By 2012, it was worth $61.6 billion weight-loss industry industry was estimated at $61 billion 85% 82% 2013 of dieters attempt to lose weight without help of dieters are female Dieters tend to try a new diet 4 to 5 times a year 50% li 25% 50% of Ameriçan women and 25% of men are on diet at any given time Up to 90% of teenagers have attempted dieting WEIGHT-LOSS FALSEHOODS MORE THAN 50% 5.1 MILLION of weight-loss adverts run in 2001 were reported to promote some sort of falsehood or make In 2011, the Federal Trade ??? Commission (FTC) reported that there were approximately 5.1 an unsubstantiated claim million falsehood cases related FAKE to weight-loss products--double of any other industry 1 IN 3 20% 40% victims were lured over of victims were suckered by of these purchases were the internet newspaper or magazine adverts made over the internet OFFENDING PRODUCTS GREEN COFFEE Hailed as a “miracle ingredient," green coffee is an extract Allegedly, people are able to lose 10% of their The study that produced these statistics, however, which is being marketed in pill format body weight by doing nothing but taking the capsule three times per day for 22 weeks was done with a small group of people in India Each person in the study also acted as their own control group, making the findings very difficult to actually pinpoint CELLULITE CREAMS MOISTURIZER FAKE Often these products are claimed to be "100% effective," but no cream can remove Over $3 billion is spent annually on such creams by people looking for a quick fix Typically, these creams are a regular moisturizer or aqueous cream with one "magic ingredient" that quadruples the price cellulite completely Often the products contain caffeine and niacin, which may cause the skin to tingle and turn slightly red - this sensation Other products use l-carnitine, a fat loss amino acid when ingested, but that is unable to break down fat from outside the body leads the user to believe that the product is working DIET PILLS A large portion of diet pills found on shelves are not actually legally registered dietary supplements Pills that claim to "melt fat" or have a special herbal ingredient tend to be incredibly powerful, unlicensed drugs masquerading as herbal supplements - and these can have unknown side effects In a recent study, 60% of pills tested were also found to contain ingredients not listed on the bottle - all which could be potentially harmful and that did not necessarily lead to weight-loss In the same study, more than 20% of diet pills were revealed to contain filler products like soy or rice WHILE WE MAY ALL WISH FOR A QUICK AND EASY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT, IT SEEMS THAT THERE IS NO MIRACLE CURE FOR WEIGHT GAIN. RATHER, IT MIGHT BE TIME TO RE-EVALUATE OUR DAILY LIVES AND CONSIDER MAKING LIFELONG CHANGES IN OUR DIET AND EXERCISE REGIMEN. SOURCES abcnews.go.com | smallbusiness.chron.com | www.marketingprofs.com uk.finance.yahoo.com | www.livestrong.com | news.yahoo.com www.investopedia.com | www.webmd.com | consumerist.com www.health-host.co.uk | www.ftc.gov | www.ncahf.org | www.webmd.com fitbug