US Government Research on the Weight Loss Industry

George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D.
As health care professionals, we are concerned about the epidemic of obesity: the relations
between excess body weight and such medical conditions as cardiovascular disease, hypertension,
type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, and certain cancers (such as breast, ovarian, prostate
and colon) are well established. We are equally concerned about false and misleading claims in the
advertising of weight loss products and services. Many promise immediate success without the need
to reduce caloric intake or increase physical activity. The use of deceptive, false, or misleading
claims in weight loss advertising is rampant and potentially dangerous. Many supplements, in
particular, are of unproven value or have been linked to serious health risks.
A majority of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. All told, they invest over
$30 billion a year in weight loss products and services. These consumers are entitled to accurate,
reliable, and clearly-stated information on methods for weight management. They have a right to
know if the weight loss products they're buying are helpful, useless, or even dangerous.
For this reason, the staff of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission
(FTC), joined with the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management–a coalition of representatives
from science, academia, the health care professions, government agencies, commercial enterprises,
and public interest organizations--to collect and analyze weight loss advertising. The Partnership's
purpose is to promote sound guidance to the general public on strategies for achieving and
maintaining a healthy weight. This report by the FTC staff is a major advance in that direction.
Evidence-based guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health call for weight loss by
simultaneously restricting caloric intake and increasing physical activity. Many studies demonstrate
that obese adults can lose about 1 lb. per week and achieve a 5% to 15% weight loss by consuming
500 to 1,000 calories a day less than the caloric intake required for the maintenance of their current
weight. Very low calorie diets result in faster weight loss, but lower rates of long-term success.
While exercise added to caloric restriction can help overweight and obese people achieve
minimally faster weight loss early on, physical activity appears to be a very important treatment
component for long-term maintenance of a reduced body weight. To lose weight and not regain it,
ongoing changes in thinking, eating, and exercise are essential. Behavioral treatments that motivate
therapeutic lifestyle changes can promote long-term success by helping obese individuals make
necessary cognitive and lifestyle changes.
 The public often perceives weight losses of 5% to 15% as small and insufficient even though
they suffice to prevent and improve many of the medical problems associated with weight gain,v
overeating, and a sedentary lifestyle. Many in the weight loss industry promise effortless, fast weight
loss, then support this misperception by bombarding Americans with spurious advertising messages
touting physiologically impossible weight loss outcomes from the use of unproven products and
services. All advertisers, whatever their choice of media--cable television, infomercials, radio,
magazines, newspapers, supermarket tabloids, direct mail, or commercial e-mail and Internet
websites--know that only those products and services that help people adopt lifestyles that balance
caloric intake with caloric output will prevent and treat the disease of obesity.
 For certain businesses (weight loss franchises, pharmaceutical firms, food companies, the dietbook industry, makers of exercise equipment, suppliers of dietary supplements, to name a few)
these deceptive and misleading advertisements prevent the public from hearing their messages,
words that promote therapeutic lifestyle changes as advocated by professional societies and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Data indicate that at any given time, almost 70
million Americans are trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain. In 2000 they spent
approximately $35 billion on products they were told would help them achieve those objectives--
videos, tapes, books, medications, foods for special dietary purpose, dietary supplements, medical
treatments, and other related goods and services.
As with cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse, false or deceptive advertising of weight loss
products and services puts people at risk. Many of the products and programs most heavily
advertised are at best unproven and at worst unsafe. By promoting unrealistic expectations and
false hopes, they doom current weight loss efforts to failure, and make future attempts less likely to
succeed. In the absence of laws and regulations to protect the public against dangerous or
misleading products, a priority exists for the media to willingly ascribe to the highest advertising
standards, i.e., those that reject the creation and acceptance of advertisements that contain false or
misleading weight loss claims.
The public would be well served by becoming more knowledgeable about the evidencebased guidelines, the scientifically-proven and medically-safe standards that underlie national public
health policy. When more people know what's important and realistic in achieving and maintaining a
healthy body weight, fewer will be inclined to waste their money, time, and effort on dangerous fads
or miracle cures. The staff of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection has provided an analysis
of current trends in weight loss advertising. It is now up to the consumer and media to act in the
best interest of the public health.
George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D.
S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Nutrition Medicine
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Past President of The American Society for Clinical Nutrition,
North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the