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Weight loss scams and how to spot them
Orphia
Posts: 7,097 Member
Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:
Can you add to the list?
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:
- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
- claims effortless, large or fast weight loss such as 'lose 30 kilos in 30 days' or 'lose weight while you sleep'
- claims that you can achieve weight loss without exercise, or without managing food or energy intake
- fails to recommend medical supervision, particularly for low-calorie diets
- claims to reduce fat or cellulite in specific areas of the body
- uses terms such as 'miraculous breakthrough'
- recommends the exclusive use of any type of gadget
- claims it is a treatment for a wide range of ailments and nutritional deficiencies
- promotes a particular ingredient, compound or food as the key factor of success
- demands large advance payments or requires you to enter into long-term contracts.
Can you add to the list?
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
22
Replies
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Apart from your fantastic list, i've noticed:
- Promotes weightloss through "detoxifying" or "cleansing" the body
- Appears on morning shows/"as seen on tv" style shows (the product/scheme has advertisements disguised as an informative articles)
- Advertisements about the scheme/product often targeted towards a particular demographic
- Sounds too good to be true
13 -
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Add: Has been featured on the Dr. Oz show.67
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Excellent additions, @KateTii and @bpetrosky ! Thanks very much.0
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Herbalife.
Also, almost all the fad diets. 11 -
Anything being recommend/ advertised on the tv screens in my gym.
- claims to increase metabolism (ha!!!!)
- totes "magic" foods -- like kiwis improving iron absorption (any vit C does that)
- claims to decrease cellulite
- claims to change body shape / spot reduce
- recommends that you wear a diet patch on your skin that works with appetite suppressants
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- Uses the term "metabolism boosting"
- Targets specific areas of fat
- Demonises food groups
8 -
Garcinia cambojia
Rose hips
Raspberry ketones10 -
We can also add the FDA's list of tip-offs for health fraud scams (with slight duplication but nice expounding):
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm341344.htm- One product does it all. Be suspicious of products that claim to cure a wide range of diseases. A New York firm claimed its products marketed as dietary supplements could treat or cure senile dementia, brain atrophy, atherosclerosis, kidney dysfunction, gangrene, depression, osteoarthritis, dysuria, and lung, cervical and prostate cancer. In October 2012, at FDA’s request, U.S. marshals seized these products.
- Personal testimonials. Success stories, such as, “It cured my diabetes” or “My tumors are gone,” are easy to make up and are not a substitute for scientific evidence.
- Quick fixes. Few diseases or conditions can be treated quickly, even with legitimate products. Beware of language such as, “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days” or “eliminates skin cancer in days.”
- “All natural.” Some plants found in nature (such as poisonous mushrooms) can kill when consumed. Moreover, FDA has found numerous products promoted as “all natural” but that contain hidden and dangerously high doses of prescription drug ingredients or even untested active artificial ingredients.
- “Miracle cure.” Alarms should go off when you see this claim or others like it such as, “new discovery,” “scientific breakthrough” or “secret ingredient.” If a real cure for a serious disease were discovered, it would be widely reported through the media and prescribed by health professionals—not buried in print ads, TV infomercials or on Internet sites.
- Conspiracy theories. Claims like “The pharmaceutical industry and the government are working together to hide information about a miracle cure” are always untrue and unfounded. These statements are used to distract consumers from the obvious, common-sense questions about the so-called miracle cure.
7 -
(but you do lose weight when you sleep, you exhale fat then)1
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Requires you to order by calling a 1-800 number, and/or not being upfront about the price. So many scammy weight loss products are running infomercials nowadays!7
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Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.3 -
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
Except that MFP isn't a marketed weight loss product. It's a free ad-supported online tool whose only claim is that it will help those who are motivated to track calories and lose weight. While they do have a Premium tier, there's (IMO) vanishingly little to push a user towards purchasing it. Sure, it "may [only] be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories," but the same could be said of a gym membership -- it's really only useful for persons who are ready to work out regularly -- or a diet plan -- it's really only useful for persons who are ready to eat better.20 -
Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25563356
Raised ya one.
4 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25563356
Raised ya one.
1 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »
Bit generic though - "smartphones, PDAs, iPods, and Mp3 players"
My point was that simplistic criteria are a blunt instrument. MFP has specific peer reviewed evidence of it not working in a certain context but that doesn't mean it has no merit whatsoever.
3 -
Except that MFP isn't a marketed weight loss product.
"Free online calorie counter and diet plan. Lose weight by tracking your caloric intake quickly and easily." from web site. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/learn_more etc.1 -
Except that MFP isn't a marketed weight loss product.
"Free online calorie counter and diet plan. Lose weight by tracking your caloric intake quickly and easily." from web site. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/learn_more etc.
Again: it's a tool used for tracking calories, offered for free. From your cited study:
"Compared with patients in the control group, those in the intervention group increased use of a personal calorie goal (mean between-group difference, 2.0 d/wk [CI, 1.1 to 2.9 d/wk]; P < 0.001), although other self-reported behaviors did not differ between groups. Most users reported high satisfaction with MyFitnessPal, but logins decreased sharply after the first month."
Other behaviors did not change; use declined sharply after the first month; nothing was apparently monitored but self-reported "use of a personal calorie goal". That's not a very impressive study. I definitely agree with its conclusions: if you hand a random person an app and then just let them use it or not as they see fit, you're not likely to get a high success rate. But how is that in any way helpful data?
Give me a study that considers what the people are actually eating with a diet plan, with a group using MFP regularly to log calories and a control who does not track (or tracks with a traditinal paper method), and I will give the study due consideration. But a study that simply says, "Give 'em an app and they don't do much with it" doesn't impress.6 -
"here, you can lose weight... Just watch this 30 minute video that absolutely doesn't say crap !"2
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Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.
5 -
Other behaviors did not change; use declined sharply after the first month; nothing was apparently monitored but self-reported "use of a personal calorie goal". That's not a very impressive study. I definitely agree with its conclusions: if you hand a random person an app and then just let them use it or not as they see fit, you're not likely to get a high success rate. But how is that in any way helpful data [/quote]
It's helpful data because they are likely looking at interventions that would make a difference in health care. I actually think it's quite useful to know that it makes no statistically significant difference if you suggest it to patients who aren't mentally ready to make a change.4 -
Can we add "PM me for info!" to the list?11
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trainers hate him...9
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MamaBirdBoss wrote: »
Bit generic though - "smartphones, PDAs, iPods, and Mp3 players"
My point was that simplistic criteria are a blunt instrument. MFP has specific peer reviewed evidence of it not working in a certain context but that doesn't mean it has no merit whatsoever.
Um. No, it's not. It's a review versus a single study. Those tend to be enormously more accurate. Variability and study design and how statistics works means that a review is worth a lot more.
The other study is badly flawed. People were simply told to lose weight and told to use MFP. The didn't WANT to lose weight, necessarily. Therefore, both groups--the non-MFP group and the MFP group--failed equally. If you don't want to actually lose weight, the form of intervention doesn't matter.10 -
Here is a list of warning signs that should alert you that a product is too good to be true:
http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/694326
Warning signs
The weight loss scheme or product:- lacks scientific evidence or demonstrated links between the result and the effects of the program, food, supplement, gadget or process being promoted
- is sold outside normal commercial distribution channels. For example, through the internet, by unqualified individuals or mail order advertisements
Can you name any products/diets that fall under these categories?
MyFitnessPal ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402403 "After 6 months, weight change was minimal, with no difference between groups".
"CONCLUSION:
Smartphone apps for weight loss may be useful for persons who are ready to self-monitor calories, but introducing a smartphone app is unlikely to produce substantial weight change for most patients."
oops.Except that MFP isn't a marketed weight loss product.
"Free online calorie counter and diet plan. Lose weight by tracking your caloric intake quickly and easily." from web site. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/learn_more etc.
Again: it's a tool used for tracking calories, offered for free. From your cited study:
"Compared with patients in the control group, those in the intervention group increased use of a personal calorie goal (mean between-group difference, 2.0 d/wk [CI, 1.1 to 2.9 d/wk]; P < 0.001), although other self-reported behaviors did not differ between groups. Most users reported high satisfaction with MyFitnessPal, but logins decreased sharply after the first month."
Other behaviors did not change; use declined sharply after the first month; nothing was apparently monitored but self-reported "use of a personal calorie goal". That's not a very impressive study. I definitely agree with its conclusions: if you hand a random person an app and then just let them use it or not as they see fit, you're not likely to get a high success rate. But how is that in any way helpful data?
Give me a study that considers what the people are actually eating with a diet plan, with a group using MFP regularly to log calories and a control who does not track (or tracks with a traditinal paper method), and I will give the study due consideration. But a study that simply says, "Give 'em an app and they don't do much with it" doesn't impress.
Gee, I guess if "not using it" counts as it not working, then school should be ignored because you won't learn anything if you don't go to it, so might as well not even start.9 -
Exactly. At best, this study is determining whether or not the app is, in itself, a *motivator* for weight loss in a randomized group of people who need to lose weight. And since all the data was self-reported, we don't even know if those people who were given the app ever even used it for any extended length of time -- like, even a week -- or if they used it properly -- did they log everything? did they weigh and measure?stevencloser wrote: »Gee, I guess if "not using it" counts as it not working, then school should be ignored because you won't learn anything if you don't go to it, so might as well not even start.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that this study is pretty awful. Must have been some doctoral candidate's final project or something.
6 -
-"jumpstart"
-Detox/ cleanse
- Your friends are selling it via facebook6
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