Home
>
Weight Loss
>
Diet Pills: Tremendous Temptation, Huge Frauds

Diet Pills: Tremendous Temptation, Huge Frauds

False campaigns

More than 50 percent of Americans and Canadians are overweight or obese. More than a half the advertising campaigns for diet pills and dietary supplements are intentionally false or fail to reveal the truth, according to the FTC. This enormous proportion reveals the dimensions of this money-generating industry. Consumers in North America spend more than $35 billion each year on weight-loss products.

The FDA investigated 300 weight-loss ads from the radio, television, the Internet, magazines, newspapers, e-mail and direct mail. The FDA report concluded that some ads promised significant results without surgery, diet or exercise. Other companies claimed that taking their product would be enough for a quick weight loss. There was no need to eat less or diet. Just take pills.

Fraudulent schemes

The main frauds:

1. Manufacturers promise that their pills will deliver spectacular results, without any effort or exercise. Diet pills are presented as miracles. Just a few mention the FDA-approved diet pill.

2. They fail to admit completely and honestly the risks and side effects.

Many scams have been revealed so far. Here are a few examples:

* Bentley-Myers and three weight-loss products Zymax, MillinesES (both containing ephedra), and Serotril (containing St. John's wort) were brought under an intense spotlight when the FTC filed a federal court complaint. The FTC alleged that these diet pills caused rapid and substantial weight loss without diet or exercise and with no side effects. An additional charge referred to another dietary supplement, CartazyneDS, containing glucosamine. This was promoted as having the ingredients to cure arthritis and rebuild cartilage in just a few days.

* CortiSlim Lawsuit July 2004 Some CortiSlim TV commercials claimed that the human body is able to manage and normalize weight through Cortisol, the stress hormone. Charging the producer and distributor, public health officials argued that this supplement has no substantiated scientific support.

* Metabolife supplement and brain damages A jury in Houston awarded $7.4 million to a woman who suffered brain damage in a stroke, as a consequence of taking the Metabolife supplement to lose weight. She had been persuaded by commercials that this supplement was safe and had no side effects.

* Mendacious campaigns for the Ephedra-based supplement Trimspa An American hypnotist, Alex Szynalski, and a former Playboy Bunny (Anna Nicole Smith) joined in a Trimspa commercial which was considered "deceptive advertising" by the New Jersey Attorney General. The hypnotist was accused of luring consumers to his Goen Lose Weight Hypnosis seminars and then tempting them to buy the Trimspa supplements he produced.

* Kava Kava stop sales. Health Canada launched a public warning that this herb, found in supplements and sometimes in food is under suspicion. Its consumption was linked to liver disfunction and toxicity. FDA warned that the Kava extract is delivered under many other names which are difficult to find on the label (kava, kava kava, kava-kava, kava root, kava-kava root, kavain, kava pepper, kavapipar, kawa, kawa kawa, kawa pepper, kawapfeffer, maori kava, rhizoma di kava-kava, ava, ava pepper, ava root, awa, gea, gi, intoxicating pepper, intoxicating long pepper, kao, Piper methysticum, Macropiper Latifolium, Piper inebrians, Malohu, maluk, meruk, milik, kew, Rauschpfeffer, sakau, tonga, Wurzelstock, yagona, yangona, yaqona, yongona).

* The invisible Zoller laboratories. Intrigued by the name of diet pills suggested to be taken by Britney Spears, somebody tried to identify the producer of Zantrex 3. Zoller laboratories, apparently producing Zantrex 3, were not listed in any database. They were just a firm created by Basic Research, the company distributing Zantrex 3, for fear that its real name would sound too scientific to the public. The confusion induced by this phantom company nevertheless affected the credibility of the company.

About The Author

Dana Scripca writes for http://www.dietpillscentral.com where you can find more information about Diet Pills.

scheduled maid service Northbrook ...

In The News:

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.

Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.

Scammers can combine your name, phone number and address with data breach details to attempt SIM swaps, phishing and even identity theft schemes.

ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse and Gemini Spark can monitor flight prices, sort your email inbox and track important deadlines, but savvy users start small.

iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel each hide a built-in tool that turns a video frame into a separate photo without any screenshot needed.

Operation KillSwitch dismantled KillSec's ransomware infrastructure, but investigators say a 16-year-old allegedly ran the entire cybercrime operation.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence newsletter covers where voters will decide on AI data center ballot measures and Jeff Bezos' tech vision.

Apple's Impersonation Risk Detection in iOS 27 can flag suspicious activity inside apps, but the setting is off by default and must be enabled.

Federal Election Commission records can expose your name, address, employer and donation history once contributions exceed the $200 threshold.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright says human skepticism remains the strongest defense against AI-driven phishing scams and voice cloning fraud schemes.

iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy each handle security updates differently, and one screen saying "up to date" may not tell the whole story.

Deborah Del Mastro heard what sounded like her daughter's terrified voice on the phone, launching a five-hour virtual kidnapping scam ordeal.

Hotel TV privacy risks go beyond forgotten passwords when you sign into Netflix or other streaming apps on shared devices you don't control.

Apple's iOS 27 Visual Intelligence now lets your iPhone search objects directly on screen, but Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have a head start.

x47.c Windows malware uses xAI's Grok to maintain persistence on infected PCs while stealing passwords, browser cookies and API keys from victims.

Frankie LaPenna fought three robots in a cage, including two modified EngineAI T800 humanoids that can kick with up to 850 pounds of force..

MacSync malware hides malicious commands inside iCloud calendar events to download additional payloads onto infected Macs without raising suspicion.

Joseph Holycross dismissed his racing heart for nearly two years until his Samsung Galaxy Watch detected atrial fibrillation and changed everything.

Home title fraud begins when criminals forge your signature on a deed. Here is how to check your own property records and set up free alerts.

Jeffrey Ladish, a former Anthropic security team member, warns AI agents are colluding and hacking with no reliable solution to keep them in check.

Instinct Concierge and Meta Muse can now place phone calls to businesses on your behalf, but the privacy and data access tradeoffs are significant.

Olivia Moore spent $100 to create a fake RushTok influencer using ChatGPT and MiniMax, and thousands of Bama Rush fans couldn't tell the difference.

RatHat Android malware uses AI to steal banking credentials, intercept two-factor authentication codes and reconstruct your PIN from touch inputs.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Apple and Google password managers can flag compromised, weak and reused passwords on your phone before credential stuffing attacks can strike.

Diet Pills: Tremendous Temptation, Huge Frauds

Weight Loss