How to Spot a Weight Loss Scam

Updated August 15, 2015.

Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com’s Medical Review Board.

Dieters, it’s time to arm yourself with shrewd new consumer tools. Sneaky manufacturers are using new scams to market their questionable weight loss products. This means that bad diet pills and programs have become harder to spot.  Do these phrases look familiar?

“…clinically proven to burn more fat…”

“…backed by science…”

“…laboratory tested to provide weight loss results…”

Ads that contain claims like these are likely to grab your attention.

And of course, not every weight loss product is a bad one. But diet frauds are still common and their advertisements often look like ads for legitimate products. In fact, many diet scams use scientific terms and phrases that are difficult for consumers to decode…until now.  Here’s everything you need to know to spot a red flag in a weight loss advertisement along with specific instructions for protecting yourself against bad diet pills and products.

Updated August 15, 2015.

Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com’s Medical Review Board.

When diet product manufactures want to grab your attention they often boast about impressive scientific results. But advertisers can sugarcoat poor lab results by using ambiguous percents. See if these phrases look familiar:

“…burns 30% more fat…”

“…burns 75% more calories…”

“…lose weight 50% faster…”

Those numbers look impressive don’t they? Who doesn’t want to burn more fat and calories?

  The problem is that those phrases don’t provide essential information. Any time a product is compared, you need to know what specific scenarios are being compared in order to make an informed decision.

For example, let’s say a diet pill manufacturer says that their product was studied and results prove that it helped people lose weight 75% faster. The claim sounds impressive, but you need to ask yourself: “75% faster than what?” The study may have compared people taking the diet pill along with a diet and exercise program to people not taking the diet pill and not dieting or exercising. Common sense would tell you that the diet and exercise produced a weight loss result, not the diet pill.