As noted before, Chris Woolston’s ”Healthy Skeptic” column in the LA Times is pretty good.  Here he is on the subject of diet patches…

Some day, scientists might develop an effective weight-loss patch, says Dr. Howard Eisenson, executive director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C. But, to his mind, that day is probably still far off. The patches on the market today “are beyond ridiculous,” he says. “The more hyperbolic the claims, the more people can quickly dismiss the product.”

Eisenson says there’s no evidence that bladderwrack, a common ingredient in weight loss patches, can encourage weight loss or suppress appetite. The seaweed hasn’t been thoroughly tested orally, let alone through the skin, he says.

So far, no diet patch has passed muster in a published, peer-reviewed study, says Dr. Michael Steelman, past president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians.

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My girlfriend and I were both stricken by the darn flu virus this week. Not surprising then, that we spent a good chunk of time huddled feverishly in blankets, sipping NeoCitran and watching T.V.

At one point during a commercial break, I became alarmed and had to scrabbled feverishly for my thermometer. What I  had just witnessed convinced me that I had descended into a state of delirium brought on by an upward-surging of my temperature. Surely I was seeing things? Drifting in and out of consciousness? Perhaps hovering in an altered state of consciousness, trapped somewhere between fever-inspired dreams and reality?

Nope.

Apparently, Kellog’s Fruit Loops are now an even more healthful way to start the morning, thanks to added fiber. Yep, it’s true. Fruit Loops are nutritious. Don’t believe me? See for yourself…

Paul has written extensively about various underhanded tricks that supplement companies use to manipulate the trust of their customers… in fact, he’s written an entire booklet about it, called “Dirty Rotten Tricks” (if you haven’t downloaded it yet, you should.  It’s excellent!).

As noted in the booklet (as well as in this video), one of the most common online scams is the so-called “free-trial” offer, wherein the supplement marketer charges only a small shipping and handling fee for a full month’s supply of the product.  It looks like a great deal… but there’s a catch.  One of the ”Terms and Conditions” you ”agree” to when you accept the free trial offer is enrollment in an ”autoship” program. Unless you cancel the “agreement” within a relatively short period after ordering the free trial, you’re on the hook.  Needless to state, a LOT of people never read the “Terms and Conditions” before signing up, and are shocked/angry to discover they’re receiving product shipments – and credit card charges – they didn’t expect (and often can’t stop).

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Remember this?  Looks like the so-called “Smart Choices” labelling system is drawing critics with teeth.

Raising the stakes in the battle over nutritional claims for packaged foods, the Connecticut attorney general said on Wednesday that he was investigating a national labeling campaign that promotes products like Froot Loops and mayonnaise as nutritionally smart choices.

In letters to Kellogg’s, General Mills and PepsiCo, the attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, said he was concerned that the program, called Smart Choices, was “overly simplistic, inaccurate and ultimately misleading.” The three companies are among several food giants that participate in the program.

In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Blumenthal said he had discussed his investigation with attorneys general from other states and several had expressed interest in joining his effort. In other prominent consumer protection cases, states have worked together to pursue companies or industries, including cigarette makers and subprime lenders, over charges of deceptive marketing.

“As a matter of common sense, these sugar-laden or fat-saturated products seem very questionable as so-called ‘Smart Choices’ nutritionally,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “We’re ratcheting up pressure for truthful answers to these issues.”

The Connecticut investigation will seek to determine if the labeling campaign violates the state’s consumer protection law, which bars misleading or false product claims, he added.

Personally, I’d be delighted to see Mr. Blumenthal roast the industry over a sloooow fire for this one.  Stay tuned…

Evidently it’s “truth or consequences”…

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

…the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

LOL – if the FTC follows through, maybe this will put a damper on some of the more outrageous and deceptive ad practices.  We’ll see…

It probably is. 

Although this lawsuit was filed back in May, it just made it across my radar screen… and it’s too good an illustration of this principle to pass up.

Claim to boost testosterone meets class-action lawsuit
Posted by Hugo Ottolenghi

The company says that its product will boost testosterone levels by 10,000%. The plaintiffs says the product is snake oil marked up to $70 a package. So begins a class-action lawsuit filed in California superior court May 6. The suit says that Musclemeds makes false advertising claims about Arimatest and that the product creates a false result when tested.

Scott J. Ferrell of Call Jensen & Ferrell of Newport Beach, Calif., represents two California men plus others who would qualify for class-action status. The suit seeks “to recover millions of dollars generated by defendants via the false and misleading claims.”

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Paul sent me a link to this YouTube vid from skeptic, author and professor Michael Shermer.  No, it has nothing to do with supps, diet, exercise or health per se… but it IS relevant to those subjects.  Basically, the vid is about the kinds of questions people need to ask themselves when confronted by claims… so the mental steps Dr. Shermer discusses are quite applicable to the claims made in supp ads and other health-related info you find on the internet.

It’s a tad long, but worth every minute.  Enjoy!

Not too long ago, I received a query on the “Fat Loss Revealed” forum about quercetin. 

Article in 9/09 Men’s Journal suggests “Quercetin is the best energy supplement ever–research is now suggesting it works so well, it’s certain to get banned”.

Uh-huh.  I was politely skeptical, since - despite certain advertising claims - the existing research on quercetin and exercise just isn’t that stellar… for example, quercetin ingestion by athletes,

• does not protect against exercise-induced oxidative stress and inflammation
• does not affect ratings of perceived exertion
• does not enhance plasma antioxidant capacity or oxidative damage
• does not alter the production of inflammatory cytokines

On the flip side, there’s some positive animal data, along with a study on untrained individuals, but truth is, the picture isn’t nearly as glowing as the ads (and magazine “advertorials”) would have us believe.

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This time it’s FXsupplements.com, the makers of Acai Berry Maxx.

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The Environmental Working Group’s report on bottled water is worth a read… it’s quite an eye-opener.  In 2008, they created a database representing 137 different commercial brands, and then analyzed both the labels and website information.  The results were pretty revealing… and disappointing.

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Kewl: someone’s actually gone and developed comprehensive criteria for superfruit status… and the few relatively fruits that actually merit the title might surprise a few people.

The creator of the rubric is Dr. Paul Gross.  It consists of the following measures:

• Popularity and sensory appeal of the whole fruit
• Nutrient diversity and density
• Phytochemical diversity and density
• Basic medical research intensity
• Clinical applications

And the winners are:
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Which is something that certain supp manufacturers/retailers evidently don’t understand.

Earlier in the week, I clicked through an interesting presentation given at the recent International Society of Sports Nutrition conference.  Entitled “Sports Supplements, Science, and the Politics of New Washington“, it offered some explicit warnings to the supplement industry.  As authors Rick Collins, JD, CSCS and Alan Feldstein, JD put it in a section headed “Self-Regulation or More Regulation”:

If companies making unsubstantiated claims continue to be reported in the press, and lawsuits and class actions proliferate, FDA and FTC may ratchet up their scrutiny.

Indeed. 

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That’s the title of this LA Times article.  I think it overstates things a bit - the info presented is a lot less ominous than the heading suggests.  But that’s par for the course for the mainstream media: when it comes to supps, there simply HAS to be something sinister going on - regardless of the facts.

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Yes, I know it’s tongue-in-cheek, but I find the new Gold’s Gym ad campaign, “Say No to Cankles” to be really annoying.

REALLY annoying.

Why?  Because far too many women are hyper-conscious about their bodies already.  There’s no shortage of media attention to breasts, hips, tummies, derrieres, thighs, and (thanks to Michelle Obama) even arms.  Inventing even more ”aesthetic afflictions” to be embarrassed about is advertising FAIL.

Give it a rest guys…while it’s not as blatantly offensive as Bacardi’s “Get An Ugly Girlfriend” ad campaign, it’s not funny – it’s just dumb.

That’s what Paul wrote on the e-mail he forwarded to me this morning.  He was being sarcastic, of course, but I could hardly blame him.  Here’s the message he received:

I would like to introduce UltimateFatBurner.com, and your valued customers, to Cellulean, the most effective Active Cellulite Solution on the market.  I believe Cellulean is a perfect complimentary product to be utilized with all your weight loss and fat burning products. Your clients are motivated and focused to improve their overall body image and appearance; Cellulean will help.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience so we may discuss this opportunity in more detail.  I look forward to hearing back from you and helping you to become an authorized Cellulean Wholesaler.

Can anyone tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on the importance of knowing who you’re dealing with, when looking for health/fitness information online.  I used a site I’d been directed to, www.TheBestWayToExercise.com as an example.  At the time of writing, the author was not only anonymous, but actually made it a part of his sales pitch, so that “the messenger doesn’t get in the way of the message”.

Now, I’ve spent the last five years exploring wiiild-a** claims on the internet, and this site – with its grandiose-sounding and unverifiable claims – looked like a poster child for the point I was making about anonymity and credibility.

However, it’s only fair to provide an update: the author of the site, Doug Jones, has redesigned it, so that it now provides full biographical information.  You can read about Doug’s background, education and experience here: http://thebestwaytoexercise-onlinepersonaltraining.com/IntroDougtion.html

Personally, I think he could use the services of a good web designer, but his credentials do, in fact, match the claims he was made on the previous version of the site.  So mea maxima culpa – even I get surprised, once in a while.  Kudos to Doug for deciding that transparency is the way to go, when it comes to marketing online products/services.

Science-Based Medicine is a blog I’ve read here and there in my travels on the web.  I stumbled across this post on Akavar 20/50 the other day, and figured it was worth sharing. Although it’s an older post (early 2008), it’s still relevant, as it details the degree of deception and foot-dragging engaged in by the manufacturers in response to a simple question.  Since Akavar is a rather hot topic here on the blog, I thought Dr. Hall’s experience was worth linking to.

Click to read “Akavar 20/50 and Truth in Advertising“.

Quite a lot, actually.

Paul’s awesome post on phony supplement review sites spawned a bit of discussion (both in the comments and via e-mail) about the importance of knowing WHO you’re getting information from.  It’s about credibility: Paul and I both have our names out there on the reviews posted on UltimateFatBurner.com - which means that we can be held accountable for what we write.  The authors behind a bogus site, on the other hand, are more likely to be anonymous – for obvious reasons.

This can be true for other forms of internet “information” as well…including health/fitness info.  A perfect example of this is a site I stumbled over last week, titled “The Best Way To Exercise.com”.*

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Sometimes even I get surprised at how sloppy some supp makers can be, when it comes to designing and marketing their products.

A case in point arrived in my inbox this morning from a bud – pointing me to a product called “2 Methyl 13-C” from Iron Tek.  It’s a pre-workout/NO-booster-type product containing creatine.

It was the creatine component that caught my eye: Creatine Methyl Ester.

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Yesterday, a member of the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum asked a question about Rilose… specifically, whether it was “worth the money” or not.

At this point, a lot of you might be wondering: what the heck is Rilose?  So before I go on, let me explain…

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