5 Reasons Why You Should Never Take Weight Loss Supplements

The prevalence of obesity in the United States continues to increase at alarming levels with one third of the adult population currently overweight or obese. Not surprisingly 15% of the American population uses dietary supplements for weight loss [1] yet in spite of the wide variety of products that purport to induce weight loss, the most one common aspect that they share is their abysmal failure rate. Weight loss is of critical importance to many people, but consumers often lack the information necessary to make informed decisions about the use of potentially harmful products like weight loss supplements. My stance against weight loss supplements is one that is seldom shared by other athletes on the payroll of companies in the industry, but it is one that will never waver. (You wouldn’t waver either if you had to visit your friends in the hospital several times over the course of 20 years thanks to readily available over the counter weight loss supplements.) Here are five reasons why you should never use weight loss supplements:

1. Weight Loss Supplements Don’t Work

It is that simple. Regardless of the widespread and ever present promotion of non prescription diet aids that are supposed to do miraculous things like stop fat absorption from your foods, block carbohydrates and increase your metabolism, the truth is that weight loss supplements will not bring about long term weight loss. Using them is not only a waste of money but a risk to your health as well. In twenty three years in the weight loss business I have yet to see a weight loss supplement help anyone achieve and sustain their ideal bodyweight. Back in the days when dangerous drugs like ephedra were included in weight loss stacks people did see a temporary reduction in their bodyweight while from the use of a powerful and (we know now) potentially deadly drug. But any weight loss quickly went away after stopping it.
Today’s supplements don’t have ephedra anymore and their active ingredients have been proven to be useless as an aid to weight loss. A German study presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm had 189 either obese or overweight middle aged men and women participate in a weight loss program for eight weeks using nine of the major weight loss products on the market. Half were given commercially available weight loss supplements and the other half took a sugar pill. At the end of the eight week period researchers found that the weight loss supplements were no more effective than the placebo pills.
This study was one of the most rigorous scientifically credible tests of weight loss supplements to date and included common ingredients such as L-carnitine, polyglucosamine, cabbage powder, guarana seed powder, bean extract, Konjac extract, fiber, sodium alginate, chitosan and certain plant extracts either alone or in combination. What we can infer from this study is that weight loss supplements are effective in helping you lose money- not weight.

2. Weight Loss Supplement Companies Are Allowed To Lie

You hear the commercial on television, you see the ads in the magazines and you see your favorite celebrity or athlete endorsing the product or book- but when you tried it you really didn’t see much in the way of weight loss. How could that be when so much is made of the efficacy of the product? Simple- weight loss claims by supplement companies, programs and products are not regulated and their claims do not have to be proven by clinical trials 4. That’s correct; in one of the most developed countries in the world there are no laws that demand truth in advertising when it comes to weight loss supplements or any weight loss product for that matter. Unfortunately the minor snag that the products don’t really work and that the ads are a bit far from the truth doesn’t stop us from spending 1.6 billion dollars on weight loss supplements each year!
Why do we keep spending money if the results are less than advertised? There are two reasons- one is if you are overweight and suffer everyday from the type of negative body image than can be associated with being obese you desperately want to believe that it will work. Not unlike the drowning man reaching for a straw. The ads work by highlighting young men and women that are in phenomenal shape- which makes someone that is overweight even more self conscious and creates a strong awareness of their problem. Thus you are far more apt to believe that the supplement that you are buying really will help you lose weight. This type of emotional manipulation is sadly the cornerstone of marketing today and is far more powerful than most people realize. The other reason why people keep on buying is that weight loss companies always have a steady stream of ‘new and improved’ products coming out, and with them come the growing hope that this new breakthrough formula will be the one that finally helps you lose the weight and keep it off- but it won’t.

3. The Science Of Weight Loss Supplements Is Compromised By Conflict Of Interest

According to Ano Lobb from the Dartmouth Medical School, “trials used to determine product safety and effectiveness…tend to be small, of short duration, and frequently lack financial conflict of interest disclosures.”[2] He goes on to say that “these factors could conspire to place consumers at risk, especially when published research cited in advertising cloaks products with the suggestion that their safety and effectiveness have been proven by science.”[2] In a paper published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology that included analysis from studies published by Hasani Ranjbar et al.[3] Ano Lobb went on to take a critical look at studies passed off as sound science for the promotion of popular weight loss supplements such as:

• Xenadrine- was cited for a study that were far too small (only 47 participants) and far too short a duration (6 weeks) to be clinically credible. The studies used for product promotion also did not have any mention of an independent funding source- so the reader has no way of knowing whether there is a conflict of interest.

• LeptiCore -The material used to market their weight loss product cited a study[4] that followed 62 participants that supposedly reported losing weight, body fat, a reduction in waist size and lowering of their cholesterol, however one of the authors appeared to be a chief scientific officer of a dietary supplement company, and was listed as the inventor of a weight loss supplement whose patent was held by the very same company that he was employed by.

• Hydroxycut Advanced -Studies cited in marketing materials for Hydroxycut were according to Lobb’s paper ‘small and of short duration and reported no serious side effects. In spite of this, Hydroxycut was withdrawn from the market in 2010 after being linked to 23 cases of liver toxicity and one fatality.[5] Again there were no financial conflict of interest disclosures or evidence that funding for the studies were not received by the supplement manufacturers themselves. (Note that after a change of ingredients- Hydroxycut is once again on the market shelves).

4. Weight Loss Supplements Can Kill Or Seriously Harm You

Unlike the far stricter laws applied in Europe and in Canada, manufacturers of dietary supplements here in the United States are not required to conduct any trials to establish the safety or efficacy of their products. All that is required is that a copy of their label is sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review[6,7,8].  What this means to you the consumer is that you become a lab rat in the post marketing trial of every weight loss product’s safety. Reviews have shown that the FDA only gets about 1% of the harmful events resulting from supplement use by consumers and there is no coordination between the FDA and the Poison Control Center to regulate ill effects from weight loss supplements.[9]
Factor in as well that weight loss supplement companies created for the sole purpose of turning a profit are not always honest and forthcoming about the safety of their products. The manufacturers of the weight loss supplement, Metabolife 356 withheld over 14, 000 reports they received over a 5 year period that documented serious side effects associated with their weight loss supplement product which contained ephedra, including myocardial infarction, stroke, seizure and death[6]. It took 155 deaths before ephedra was banned here in the United States by the FDA, all the while several supplement companies were fully aware of the dangers and continued to sell ephedra to the public.[10]
As mentioned earlier, Hydroxycut, was the number one weight loss product in its market selling just about a million bottles a year[11] was recently pulled from shelves after 23 cases of liver damage and one death[4] and it took only a few months before they were back on the shelves with a ‘new and improved’ formula. That’s how the industry operates- when one ingredient (in this case Garcinia cambogia) is found to be responsible for the sickness and or death of several members of the public, the product is simply reformulated with something else. Lawsuits and other fines from people injured by their products are part of the cost of running their business and is a small drop in the bucket compared to the profits from their weight loss supplements.

5 Weight Loss Supplements Distract From The Real Steps Needed For Long Term Weight Loss

There are no secrets. No magic exercises or magic foods or harmless pills or powders that will help you lose weight. You have to make healthy and sustainable changes in your eating habits and find a way to incorporate exercise into your daily life. Sustainability is a word often associated with our interaction with the environment, but it is time that it is used more frequently with regards to how we approach diet and exercise. You can’t take a weight loss supplement for the rest of your life, nor can you follow an extreme diet or workout for any significant period of time. Don’t be mislead by the temporary weight loss some of these methods may bring about- as any decrease in weight (if any at all) won’t be sustainable. It isn’t easy- if it was we wouldn’t have obesity as a national epidemic, but staying away from weight loss supplements and their instant-weight-loss-cousins gives you a better chance of doing it the right way.
Thanks for reading and I hope you share this article with your friends and family members.

References
1.     Blanck HM, Serdula MK, Gillespie C, Galuska DA, Sharpe PA, Conway JM, Khan LK, Ainsworth BE. Use of nonprescription dietary supplements for weight loss is common among Americans. J Am Diet Assoc.
2.    Lobb A. Science of weight loss supplements: Compromised by conflicts of interest? World J Gastroenterol
3.    Hasani-Ranjbar S, Nayebi N, Larijani B, Abdollahi M. A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines used in the treatment of obesity. World J Gastroenterol
4.    Kuate D, Etoundi BC, Azantsa BK, Kengne AP, Ngondi JL, Oben JE. The use of LeptiCore in reducing fat gain and managing weight loss in patients with metabolic syndrome. Lipids Health Dis
5.    Lobb A. Hepatoxicity associated with weight-loss supplements: a case for better post-marketing surveillance. World J Gastroenterol
6.    Consumers Union. Dangerous supplements: still at large. Consum Rep 2004; 69: 12-17
7.    Morrow JD. Why the United States still needs improved dietary supplement regulation and oversight. Clin Pharmacol Ther
8.    Gardiner P, Sarma DN, Low Dog T, Barrett ML, Chavez ML, Ko R, Mahady GB, Marles RJ, Pellicore LS, Giancaspro GI. The state of dietary supplement adverse event reporting in the United States. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
9.    Gardiner P, Sarma DN, Low Dog T, Barrett ML, Chavez ML, Ko R, Mahady GB, Marles RJ, Pellicore LS, Giancaspro GI. The state of dietary supplement adverse event reporting in the United States. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
10.    Moran M. Did delay of ephedra ban cause unnecessary deaths? Psych News
11.    Weight control a high priority. Chain Drug Rev