Diet Supplement Warning

If you are considering taking a diet supplement to help with your weight loss, you may want to do some research to see if there has been a diet supplement warning issued for the supplement you are considering.

While there are a number of safe diet supplements on the market, it is difficult to wade through the sheer amount of information available about the safety and efficacy of the diet supplement you intend to take. In the haste to help America lose weight, sometimes diet solutions are rushed to market without an understanding of the long-term effects of taking those supplements. In those cases, having had a warning issued would make a difference in the health of those taking the supplements or medications.

To see an example of this, one only has to look as far back as the Fen-Phen debacle of the 1990s, in which the combination of drugs Fenfluramine and Phentermine were co-marketed by Wyeth laboratories as a miracle weight loss pill when used in combination. The drug combination caused heart valve problems, and it was eventually pulled off the market. Both drugs had been approved by the FDA.

If this can happen with drugs and supplements that have been approved by the FDA, what about the natural supplements market, which is subject to no such regulation? It is these markets where there are a variety of untested formulas being hawked as the next miracle weight loss supplement without the benefit of studies into the long-term effects of their use. Not only that, but the claims made by the manufacturers often wiggle as far from truth in advertising as they can possibly get. Some even make claims that are outright fraudulent.

What’s a dieter to do? While the Internet is a good place to start a search for information about diet supplement warnings, it is important to realize that it is common practice of diet supplement manufacturers to “seed” the Internet with pages that look like they have been written by consumers and scientists. Further research reveals that these pages haven’t, in fact, been written by these people. Instead, they are pages created by marketing departments or writers for hire who are instructed to write “reviews” with a certain ratio of positive to negative reviews. Other common practices of manufacturers intended to obfuscate a legitimate warning include:

• False “testimonials” from users that are really written by marketers
• Seeding the pages of competitors with bad reviews and negative testimonials
• Taking a statement made about a certain ingredient by a respected expert and pulling it out of context or twisting the context in order to make that ingredient appear to be more powerful or do something that it doesn’t
• Creating comparison web page that supposedly show a side-by-side comparison of their supplement with others
• Hiring an “independent” research firm to run a “study” on their product that searches for a foregone conclusion
• Massaging data from other studies so that it appears to support the efficacy of their product

The acai berry supplements are a good example of all of the above practices.

There are a number of places that you can go to learn the truth about diet supplements you are considering. A great place to start is by having a discussion with your personal health care provider, or by consulting a registered dietician. Professionals are up to date on the latest studies and information, and are aware if there is a diet supplement warning about a particular supplement, or whether the product is effective or a waste of money. Other good sources of information include:

• Medical websites, such as Web MD may have good information.
• The Complaints Board is a database where a number of consumers go to share their experience with things like diet supplements. Go to the link above, and enter the name of the diet supplement you are considering in their search box.
• The Federal Trade Commission features information about weight loss scams and consumer complaints.
• Google can be your friend if you use the right search terms. While a Google search of the supplement name may turn up all of the aforementioned web pages set forth by the manufacturer, if you search the product name and the term “scam” or “complaint,” your search results may tell an entirely different story.

When it comes to diet supplements, it is a case of buyer beware. Do your due diligence and talk to experts before wasting your money – or worse, trashing your health – in pursuit of a diet panacea.

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