| Show N New ew 0 years year ear s dieters beware The only true loss may be your health Brynn H Howell Contributor EW y years year's ars ar's resolutions inevitably seem to include NEW weight loss goals This year dieters beware Recent studies show that Commercial diet programs may be hazardous hazardous hazardous haz haz- to your health and they dont don't make you thinner The 30 billion weight loss industry has been under investigation in investigation investigation in- in by several groups including the Federal Trade Commission and the Committee ee on Small Business headed by U US U.S. S Representative Ron of of Oregon If it is a household hou eh ld word we weve we've ve investigated it said Barry J. J Cutler dire director tor of the tle B Bureau reau- reau of Consumer Protection Protection Protection tion when discussing the number of centers involved in the investigation For dieters anxious to buy into the quick-fix quick promise through commercial diet centers the results of the research have Z proven disappointing Terms like rampant and outright Quackery Quackery Quackery Quack Quack- ery have been used by committee members to describe the deliberately misleading advertisements advertisements' and questionable diet content of these programs Among the other transgressions transgressions uncovered by the FTC were misleading testimonials questionable statistics deceptive before before and after pictures many have been computer S enhanced and inaccurate price lists Every center denied problems problem associated with health risks even when undercover investigators brought up the issue directly Scientists have linked the rapid weight loss th these se programs promote to electrolyte to-electrolyte imbalance loss of muscle mass heart arrhythmia and gall bladder gall disease T The Hie major conclusion of this investigation is that over the trie long term th these se diets are not only unhealthy they just dont don't work The FTC is battling to set up specific guidelines that the companies must follow or face up to fines for each violation These guid guidelines lines also may include a re reL required re- re L r warning that for mo most t dieters weight loss is tem tern Experts still agree that agree that the best and safest way to lose weight and keep it off is to lose it slowly The experts also are advising the theold old adage if it sounds to good to be true it probably probably- y is |
