DIET SCAMS

In America alone, 50 million people go on a diet every year. More than 15 percent of those people--about 8 million--try to do it in a structured program with supervision. The only real solution is simple: eat fewer calories, exercise more (or become more physically active), and you'll lose weight.

Nevertheless, if someone offers a way to avoid a sacrifice that dieters don't want to make, people have a tendency to believe less-than-logical explanations. That's one reason why the diet industry rakes in about $40 billion per year from Americans alone.

Staying Scam Free

The Federal Trade Commission monitors weight-loss scams and false claims. Here are some of the commissions warning signs of diet scams:

Claims of losing two or more pounds per week.

Products that promise you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight.

Permanent weight loss.

The ability to block fat or calorie absorption.

Weight loss of more than three pounds a week for more than four weeks in a row.

Claims that the product works the same for everyone.

Creams, patches, wraps, earrings, and things to be worn or applied to the body to lose weight.

It's true. Companies sell magnetic earrings that supposedly work on pressure points around the ear to stimulate weight loss. Eye glasses and other products that hang on the ear are also available. Not surprisingly, no measurable weight-loss results have ever been recorded from these in any scientific tests.