These days Advertisements for weight-loss supplements seem to be everywhere. "Eat the foods you love and still lose weight" and "Exercise in a bottle" are among the marketing ploys that sound too good to be true. For the most part, they are.
Take a look at the fine print on these products and you'll see that none of their claims have been verified by the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for testing the effectiveness of food and drugs. For example, a cold medicine that claims to relieve nasal congestion must be proven to do so.
But weight-loss aids fall into a gray area because they are neither foods nor drugs. Rather, they are classified as dietary supplements, a category created in 1994 in response to pressure to loosen the FDA's tight control over some products.
As a result, nutrients, herbs and plants that supposedly have medicinal value can be sold without being tested for effectiveness or safety as long as they do not make direct health or therapeutic claims. So although manufacturers cannot say that their weight-loss aids will cure obesity, they can make indirect and unproven claims in advertisements and on labels.
The FDA can, however, take a product off the market if it is found to be unsafe. For example, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra in 2004 after the compound was linked to several deaths.
But despite the ban on ephedra itself, supplements containing ephedra-like compounds (including ephedrine, norephedrine and methylephedrine) are widely available over the Internet and in stores.
In supplements they are often found in combination with caffeine or plant sources of caffeine, such as guarana and yerba mate. Two other ingredients found in some supplements -- bitter orange and country mallow -- contain chemicals related to ephedra and should also be avoided.
You should also steer clear of chitosan and guar gum, two more compounds found in weight-loss supplements, because studies show they don't help people lose weight. The FDA has also deemed spirulina (blue-green algae) ineffective.
This post is brought to you by Nationwide Synergy Inc. NSI is a health clinic that offers HGH Hormone and Hormone Replacement Therapy for men and women to restore hormonal balance and make them feel healthy and younger again. For more information contact us.
