Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Diet pills thrown for a loss

By JAMES THORNER
Published January 5, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Many ads for TrimSpa Completely Ephedra Free Formula X32 featured testimonials from Anna Nicole Smith, who claimed to have lost 69 pounds in eight months with TrimSpa. The company's marketers were fined $1.5-million.

Eager to work off the holiday turkey and sugar cookies that have lodged in your hips and thighs? You might want to pass on the diet pills.

The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it was fining the marketers of four weight-loss drugs a collective $25-million for false advertising. Despite that, Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, One-A-Day WeightSmart and TrimSpa will stay on store shelves.

"It is resolution time again, isn't it?" FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said. "We're implementing our resolution to fight back against companies that use deceptive advertising claims."

Some of the products relied on infomercials or celebrity endorsements. Anna Nicole Smith, for example, plugged TrimSpa. Photos show the blond bombshell transformed from a blubbery "before" to a tanned and tucked "after."

In most cases, the products contain various combinations of caffeine, herbs and vitamins. Ingredients such as green tea and chromium aren't necessarily bad, but they're no weight-loss elixirs, said John LaRosa, head of research at Tampa's Market Data Enterprises Inc., which has tracked the weight-loss industry for 20 years.

"It's basically legalized speed," said LaRosa, emphasizing that teen girls are big customers. "They're really more stimulant than appetite suppressant. They don't really block your hunger pangs."

The FTC investigated a variety of claims, including rapid weight loss and reduction in the risk of osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and even cancer.

The largest fine was levied against the marketer of Xenadrine EFX, made by New Jersey-based Nutraquest Inc. The marketers will pay as much as $12.8-million. Majoras said Xenadrine's own study showed people who took a placebo lost more weight than those taking the pill.

The FTC's investigation also found that consumer endorsers - people who appear in the before and after pictures - lost weight through rigorous diet and exercise.

A $12-million fine was assessed against Window Rock Health Laboratories, based in Brea, Calif., the marketers of CortiSlim. Majoras said CortiSlim falsely promised that all users would see permanent and fast weight loss, and that its TV infomercials were "deceptively formatted" to appear as talk shows.

The Bayer Corp., based in Morristown, N.J., will pay a $3.2-million civil penalty. The FTC said Bayer marketed One-A-Day WeightSmart, a vitamin pill, with unsubstantiated claims that it increases metabolism.

The marketers of TrimSpa, Goen Technologies Corp., will pay $1.5- million. Both Goen and TrimSpa are based in Whippany, N.J. The FTC said Goen lacked the science to support claims TrimSpa causes rapid and substantial weight loss.

Marketers for Xenadrine EFX and CortiSlim did not return phone calls for comment. WeightSmart insisted it was marketing vitamins, not weight-loss pills. TrimSpa released a statement praising the FTC but admitted no liability.

The FTC will use the fines to try to reimburse Xenadrine EFX and CortiSlim customers who bought directly from the marketers. People who bought the pills over the counter must wait a few months to recoup money over the agency Web site.

In 2004, TrimSpa sales amounted to $120-million, CortSlim's $99-million and Xenadrine's $40-million, according to the magazine Nutrition Business Journal.

The easy availability and ever-changing formulas of the pills doesn't inspire confidence, said Ken Sneed, a pharmacist at the University of South Florida's Department of Family Medicine.

One popular ingredient, the herbal stimulant ephedra, was banned as dangerous before being reinstated last year.

"There are no definitive clinical studies," Sneed said. "It could be the equivalent of snake oil."

[Last modified January 4, 2007, 23:17:45]