What are Slim Chance Awards?
The 20 th Annual Slim Chance Awards are announced on Rid the World of Fad Diets & Gimmicks Day, Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009, of Healthy Weight Week (the third full week in January). They expose the widespread fraud and quackery in the weight loss field, and are aimed at helping consumers move on from chronic dieting to improving their lives in more positive and lasting ways.
They are truly the “worst” of the worst of the many weight-loss products and programs that flood the internet, the airwaves, and the pages of print materials in seemingly increasing numbers. Diet quackery defrauds, disables and kills.
Please send us your nominations by December 1 of each year. Nominations are in the following four categories: Most Outrageous Claim, Worst Claim, Worst Product and Worst Gadget. Listing of 2008 awards, diet quackery information and consumer handouts available on website.
During Healthy Weight Week people are encouraged to improve health habits in lasting ways: to live actively, to eat normally and nutritiously, and to accept, respect and feel good about themselves and others. It’s a time to celebrate the diversity of real women, as well as men, and to help them shift focus from failed and risky weight loss efforts to being healthy at their natural sizes. Healthy Weight Week is a time for people to move ahead with a new approach and build confident, diet-free lives for themselves and those they love.
The Slim Chance Awards are:
n Announced on “Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day,” Tuesday of Healthy Weight Week
n Nominated by health professionals and consumers worldwide, with a Dec. 1 deadline for nominations
n Selected by a panel of judges
n Sponsored by Healthy Weight Network and the National Council Against Health Fraud
n Part of a long tradition that began in 1989 by Francie M. Berg of Healthy Weight Network as a reaction to the glut of unsafe and exploitive products on the market.
Send your nominations to Healthy Weight Network, 402 South 14th Street - Hettinger, ND 58639, along with advertisements, catalog, or other supporting material, or click here to email to Francie using the subject line: Berg – interview
website www.healthyweight.net
Other websites identifying fraud and quackery are: www.quackwatch.com and www.ncahf.org
For more information on Healthy Weight Week and on fraud and quackery, see http://www.healthyweight.net
19 Years of Slim Chance Awards |
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1989 to 2007 |
The “worst” of the worst weight-loss products and programs
Most Outrageous Claim – Worst Claim – Worst Product – Worst Gimmick
2008
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2007
Evercleanse, Most Outrageous Claim
Bio SpeedSLIM, Worst Claim
HoodiaHerbal, Worst Product
Hollywood Detox Body Wrap, Worst Gimmick |
2006
Isacleanse, Most Outrageous Claim
ChitoGenics, Worst Claim
PediaLean, Worst Product
Magic Ear Staple, Worst Gimmick |
2005
Shape Up with Dr Phil, Most Outrageous Claim
Jana Skinny Water, Worst Claim
Nutrathin With Hoodia, Worst Product
Body Shape by Hydroderm, Worst Gimmick |
2004
EstrinD, Most Outrageous Claim
Carboburn, Worst Claim
CortiSlim, Worst Product
Green Tea 300 patches, Worst Gimmick |
2003
Metabadrine
Body Solutions Evening Weight Loss
Himalayan Diet Breakthrough
MagnaSlim
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2002
Nutramerica’s Trim Spa, Ultimate HGH 1000
Gorayeb Hypnosis Seminars, L’Patch |
2001
Super-Crash Diet, Hollywood 48 Hour Diet
Blast Away Fat, Slenderstrip |
2000
Slimming Slippers, Weigh Out
16-Plant Macerat Weight Loss, Hyrdro-Gel Slim Patch |
1999
Chitosan, Dr. Atkins' Low-carbohydrate Diet,
Metabolife, Cellulift |
1998
Herbal Weight Loss Tea, Slim America
Calorad, Ace Bandage Wrap |
1997
DHEA - Life Plus, Herbal Cleansing/Detox Program
Phena-Drene / MD, Elysee Body Toner Belt |
1996
Equinox Weight Mgmt System , Absorbit-ALL PLUS
Svelt Patch, Slimming Insoles |
1995
Ephedrine-laced Diet Pills, Mushroom Tea
Hypnosis Seminars, Ninzu Ear Clips |
1994
Nutrition 21 Chromium Picolinate, Herbalife Thermojetics
Gut Buster, Smooth Contours Thigh Cream |
1993
Dr. Clayton's Natural Program, Revlon Anti-cellulite
MarTrim, Fleetwood Tables |
1992
Acu-stop 2000, Bodi-Trim Pills
Synchronol infomercials, Slender You Exercise Tables
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1991
Bee Sweet Grapefruit Diet, B.I. Body Wrap
Primary Plan Tablets, Slender-Mist Appetite Spray
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1990
Cho Low Tea, Cal-Ban 3000
Dream Away Fat Blocker, Berry Trim |
1989
Fat Magnet, Jet Trim Cellulite Unit
Ultimate Solution Diet, Appetite Patches |
The Slim Chance Awards are selected from products nominated by health professionals and consumers and reflect the opinion of the panel making the judgments.
How to Identify Fraud
Weight Loss Fraud and Quackery
Guidelines for identification
Frances M. Berg, M.S.
Fraudulent weight loss products and programs often rely on unscrupulous but persuasive combinations of the message, program, ingredients, mystique and method of availability. A weight loss product or program may be fraudulent if it does one or more of the following:
Message
n Claims or implies a large, fast weight loss — often promised as easy, effortless, guaranteed or permanent. (Recommended loss for most people is no more than two pounds per week.)
n Implies weight can be lost without restricting calories or exercising, and discounts the benefits of exercise.
n Uses typical quackery terms such as: miraculous, breakthrough, exclusive, secret, unique, ancient, accidental discovery, doctor developed.
n Claims to get rid of “cellulite.” (Cellulite does not exist and reference to it is a red flag warning of fraud or misinformation.)
n Relies heavily on undocumented case histories, before and after photos, and testimonials by “satisfied customers” (who are often paid for testimony which is written by the advertiser).
n Misuses medical or technical terms, refers to studies without giving complete references, claims government approval.
n Professes to be a treatment for a wide range of ailments and nutritional deficiencies as well as for weight loss.
n Makes claims that are not stated on the label.
Program
n Promotes a medically unsupervised diet of less than 1000 calories per day.
n Diagnoses nutrient deficiencies with computer-scored questionnaire and prescribes vitamins and supplements (rather than a balanced diet). Recommends them in excess of 100% of Recommended Dietary Allowance.
n Requires special foods purchased from the company rather than conventional foods.
n Promotes aids and devices such as body wraps, sauna belts, electronic muscle stimulators, passive motion tables, ear stapling, aromatherapy, appetite patches and acupuncture.
n Promotes a nutritional plan without relying on at least one counselor or author with nutrition credentials. (Many who self-identify as “nutritionists” have no credentials. Licensed nutritionists, nutrition educators and dietitians do. The science of nutrition is taught only through college Family Consumer Science, Dietetics and related departments.)
n Fails to state risks or recommend a medical exam.
Ingredients
n Uses unproven, bogus or potentially dangerous ingredients such as dinitrophenol, spirulina, amino acid supplements, glucomannan, human chorionic gonadotrophin hormone (HCG), diuretics, slimming teas, echinacia root, bee pollen, fennel, chickweed, ephedra and starch blockers.
n Claims ingredients will block digestion or surround calories, starches, carbohydrates or fats, and remove them from the body.
Mystique
n Encourages reliance on a guru figure who has the “ultimate answers.”
n Grants mystical properties to certain foods or ingredients.
n Bases plan on faddish ideas, such as food allergies, forbidden foods, blood type or “magic combinations” of foods.
n Declares that the established medical community is against this discovery and refuses to accept its miraculous benefits.
Method of availability
n Is sold by self-proclaimed health advisors or “nutritionists,” often door-to-door, in “health food” stores, or a chiropractor’s office.
n Distributes through hard-sell mail order advertisements, television infomercials, or ads that list only a toll-free number without any address, indicating possible Postal Service action against the company.
n Demands large advance payments or long-term contracts. (Payment should be pay-as-you-go, or refundable.)
n Uses high pressure sales tactics, one-time-only deals, or recruitment for a pyramid sales organization. Displays prominent money-back guarantee. (A common complaint against such companies is that this is an empty promise and they do not honor their guarantees).
Questions and complaints should be directed to your State Attorney General’s Office, Consumer Affairs. Other agencies concerned with fraud are the FDA, FTC, Postal Service and Better Business Bureau.
Excerpted from “Weight Loss Fraud and Quackery”, by Francie M. Berg. Copyright 1995. Healthy Weight Network, Hettinger, ND. www.healthyweight.net
News Release, Dec. 2007
The Four ‘Worst’ Diet Plans
of 2007
It’s bad enough to falsely claim that our bodies retain wastes and need to be cleansed periodically. But this year’s diet gimmick with the “most outrageous claim” takes it one step farther and touts cleansing as a way to lose weight because people “have between 6 and 40 pounds of waste, feces and undigested food stuck inside their bodies.”
The 19th annual Slim Chance Awards spotlight the advertising by Evercleanse and three other diet aids for the “worst” weight loss products and promotions of 2007, as announced today by Francie M. Berg, Coordinator of the Weight Loss Abuse Task Force for the National Council Against Health Fraud.
“ It’s outrageous and offensive that the Evercleanse hucksters are telling people they are excessively heavy due to waste stuck within their colons ,” said William M. London, EdD, MPH , Professor, Health Science Program, College of Health and Human Services, California State University, Los Angeles , and a member of the panel evaluating the diet promotions.
If toxins and waste were really retained in the body, the human race would not have survived, said Vincent F. Cordaro, MD, an FDA medical officer. “The whole concept is irrational and unscientific.”
The Slim Chance Awards for 2007:
l Most Outrageous Claim: Evercleanse. Ads claim that being overweight or having a protruding abdomen are symptoms of a toxic colon. “You must detoxify your body … Yes – 6 to 40 pounds of undigested food, waste and feces are stuck inside our bodies.”
l Worst Product : HoodiaHerbal (also called Hoodia Maximum Strength). The FTC in August called a halt to illegal emails and Web form hijacking from spammers of this operation and charged they falsely claimed their supposed “hoodia” products cause permanent weight loss of as much as 40 pounds a month.
l Worst Claim: Bio SpeedSLIM . Billed as a major breakthrough that without any change in eating or activity: reduces pot belly, waist, hips, BMI and weight; suppresses hunger and cravings; promotes burning of excess body fat and gain of lean body mass. Also markets colon cleansing.
l Worst Gimmick: Hollywood Detox Body Wrap. Claimed to draw toxins out through the skin and cause long term loss of 4 to 6 inches in less than an hour.
“Pills sold as food supplements and weight-loss aids can do more harm than good,” Berg warned. “They are not subject to rigorous health standards, and can be marketed without proof of safety or effectiveness.”
In the past two years she believes there have been more weight loss promotions than ever before. She attributes this glut to two factors: first, the ease of setting up websites and sending spam emails; and second, the desperation consumers feel under the unrelenting pressure from the media and health community to lose weight.
There is no magic bullet. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is through changing lifestyle habits, said Berg, a licensed nutritionist and Adjunct Professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. Habit change occurs gradually, one small step at a time, she points out, one reason why “going on a diet” doesn’t work. People who diet try to change everything at once and soon give up. Instead, they need to first normalize their lives: stop dieting, eat nutritiously of all five food groups, engage in regular physical activity and let excess weight come off as the by-product of a more stable lifestyle.
Berg’s organization, Healthy Weight Network, started the Slim Chance Awards 19 years ago to help educate consumers. They are part of the lead-up to Healthy Weight Week, January 20 to 26. S ponsored by Healthy Weight Network and the National Council Against Health Fraud, the Slim Chance Awards are selected from nominations by health professionals and consumers and reflect the opinion of the panel making the judgments.
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