It seems this isn’t the week to be buying diet pills; the Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to consumers of the contamination of GlaxoSmithKlein’s counterfeit diet drug. Laboratory tests discovered dangerously high levels of sibutramine in Alli pills, which if ingested could bring about the same health risks as Meridia.

“The amount of sibutramine in the counterfeit Alli poses a serious health risk to some individuals,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA’s drug unit, said in a conference call. “A person taking the counterfeit Alli as directed would be exposed to twice the maximum prescription dose of sibutramine every day.”

Dr Woodcock said taking Alli could lead to sleepiness, anxiety, nausea, palpitations and high blood pressure. Luckily, the fake versions of Alli were not sold in stores, but they were definitely purchased on the Internet in 60mg 120-count refill packets.

If you suspect you may have purchased one of the counterfeit packages, you will be able to notice the difference from the real deals – the fake packages are missing a lot code on the outer cardboard.

Celeb Diet Doc
Sibutramine comes from the amphetamine class of drugs and its use is associated with an increased risk of cardiac and stroke complications. This drug and similar amphetamine type drugs should only be taken under the care of a physician.

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Over the years there have been many products that claim to trim, slim and thin fat and cellulite cells. Now a new control pants has been launched, just in time to take advantage of the annual Christmas shopping madness.

The new PeachyBody pants claim to burn calories by massaging the skin and trim 3 inches off your waistline, thighs and butt if you wear it for 21 consecutive days. The pants are made from a tightly woven polyamide material, which gently squeezes the skin as you move in it. According to the makers of the pants, this compression and the heat generated by your body encourages the break-down of fatty deposits and toxins. Tested on 100 women in Japan, the pants can burn up to 60% to 70% of your average calorie intake.

It’s amazing what products companies launch just in time for the Christmas rush. Debenhams, a department store in the UK, are the first to stock the control pants and are predicting a sell-out.

“Pre-Christmas is the peak shopping period for nip and tuck undergarments,” Annette Warburton, the head of lingerie buying at the department store, told the Daily Mail. “But shoppers are increasingly savvy about the range of ‘shapewear’ available on the High Street. With Christmas parties fast approaching, a product that slims, lifts and smoothes the skin is this year’s undercover essential. With nearly 90% of women suffering from the dreaded orange peel effect, we predict a sell-out result.”

Sound too good to be true? It probably is.

Celeb Diet Doc…
This is hilarious! Can you just see some marketing exec thinking  “spanx + weight loss claims” = $$$$

Unfortunately from the consumer side it’s   $$$$$ = Fail = Scam

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You’ve seen the fake personal blogs pitching the “dynamic duo”, usually it includes an acai berry “free trial offer” and a colon cleanse “free trial offer.” Here are a couple headlines which are littered all over the advertising networks including google, yahoo and msn.

Nadia’s Weight Loss

I Lost 32lbs with these two amazing products!

Hi!  I’m Nadia Williams.  I’m a single, working, hockey, guitar and ballet (whew!) mom to two wonderful kids…

How I lost 35 pounds with 2 FREE Products!

Renees Diet Success

My weight loss blog.

My Name is Renee Mitchell. You’ve heard stories like mine hundreds of times, but this one has a happy ending….

These fake blogs are actually very well crafted and can be very convincing.  What many unsuspecting consumers don’t realize is that these “free trial offers” are not free. You are put on an auto-bill and auto-ship program so your credit card is being charged every month and this can easily add up to over $150 a month!

The Acai berry Google slap
Back in January the acai berry issue was beginning to be a big problem and the folks at google took noticed. There was a google acai berry “slap” in January. Suddenly over a weekend in January you could not find a fake blog on the google network. Google had taken all these fake acai berry blogs off the network . However, I have a feeling the folks over at the googleplex either gave up, or watched their ad revenue go down, or both.. because the acai berry fake blogs are back up and in full force on the Google network.

So what’s the bottom line?
You probably already suspected this was coming. Acai berries will not help you with weight loss. Think about it. When was the last time you ran into someone who actually lost a significant amount of weight on an Acai berry product. How about never?

The Miracle Fruit?
Even though acai berries are touted as the miracle fruits with the highest concentrations of antioxidants, think again. The antioxidant concentrations of acai berries in pulp form actually rank LOWER than mangos, strawberries, and grapes.  In juice form, acai berry antioxidant content ranked LOWER than pomegranate juice, grape juice, blueberry juice, and red wine.

But at the end of the day mangos, strawberries and grapes don’t have the appeal of a miracle berry from the Amazon rain forest.. so don’t expect all these fake blogs to be pitching mangos, strawberries and grapes as a miracle weight loss food. The great irony here is that these fruits are great for weight loss. In fact all fruits are great for weight loss. However, these acai berry products are processed and calorie dense so if anything they will cause weight gain!

Whoopi Goldberg has been making headlines recently. She not only replaced Rosie O’Donnell on the View, but lost 50 lbs on the LA Weight Loss plan. She tells In Touch that “I was 210 pounds and I got down to 142″ but recently regained some weight to 157 pounds. “I started slacking off, but I’m going back on it. I really like the program. It works for me. I want to get back down to between 145 and 148 lbs.

LA weight loss centers have been known for the hard sell with reports of a classic bait and switch rampant. Instead of the advertised $7 a week plan, you are strongly urged to pay $400 for the yearly plan and another $28 dollars per week for their LA lites nutrition bars. So buyer beware!

As for Whoopi, I find it interesting that before her LA weight loss gig, she has a spokeswoman for Slim-fast. She got canned by Slim-fast when she made some sexual puns about President Bush at a Kerry fund raiser that even the Kerry camp admitted “crossed the line.” hmmm… Whoopi looks to be a serial weight loss spokeswoman as well as a serial dieter.

The infomercials for Kevin Trudeau are now legendary. First came “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t want you to know about” followed up by his latest commercials for his book “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” The Federal Trade Commission has charged Kevin Trudeau of violating a court order by claiming ” the weight loss plan outlined in the book is easy to do, can be done at home and ultimately allows readers to eat whatever they want.” The FTC maintains that “when consumers purchase the book, they find it describes a complex, grueling plan that requires severe dieting, daily injections of a prescription drug (human growth hormone) that consumers cannot easily get, and lifelong dietary restrictions.”

His infomercials promise:

“…it’s easy to do, you can do it at home…”

“I can attest, it was the easiest, simplest, most effective thing I’ve ever done.”

“And when you’re done with the protocol, eat whatever you want and you don’t gain the weight back.”

“I can eat whatever I want now, anything and as much as I want any time I want. No restrictions now. And the weight’s not coming back. You don’t gain the weight back.”

The Weight Lose Cure Diet Plan

• Phase one includes getting 15 “colonics” from a licensed colon therapist during a 30-day period, walking outside for one continuous hour each day, taking saunas as often as possible, eating six times a day, eating only organic meat and dairy, and eating 100 grams of organic meat right before bed.
• During the required third phase, the consumer can eat as much as they want for 21 days, but the foods must be only 100% organic, with no sweeteners (natural or artificial), no starches (bread, pasta, potatoes, white flour, etc.), no nitrites, and no trans fats. In addition, the book strongly recommends that consumers get massages, take saunas often, take homeopathic human growth hormone, and limit their exposure to air conditioning and fluorescent lighting.
• Requires a 500 calorie/day diet for 21 to 45 days, and the consumer cannot use any medicines, including over-the-counter and prescription drugs, most cosmetics, and no creams, lotions, or moisturizers.
• Consumers must follow the fourth phase of the protocol for the rest of their lives, with severe dietary prohibitions, including: no “brand name” food; no fast food, regional, or national chain restaurants; no food that is not 100% organic; no super highly refined sugars; no artificial sweeteners; no trans fats; no monosodium glutamate; no food with nitrites; no meat, poultry, or dairy that is not 100% organic; no farm-raised fish; and no food cooked in a microwave.

Kevin is a obviously a favorite around the FTC offices considering:

• FTC first sued Trudeau in 1998, alleging that he made false and unsubstantiated claims for hair growth, memory, and weight loss products sold through infomercials.
• In 2003, the FTC challenged Trudeau’s marketing of Coral Calcium Supreme and Biotape, a purported pain-relief product. To settle the FTC’s charges, in 2004 Trudeau paid $2 million and agreed to a court order banning him from infomercials, with a narrow exemption for infomercials for books and other publications that specifically required that Trudeau not misrepresent the contents of the books or publications. The violation of this exemption is the basis for this latest suit.

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh in…
Kevin Trudeau has certainly gained unfavorable attention of the FTC. I guess Mr Trudeau was referring to the FTC as “they” when he says “the weight loss cure ‘they’ don’t want you to know about.”

While some of his recommendations are dubious (colonics, very low calorie diet plan, eating organic meat before bed time), he does make some good points such as daily walking and eating organic foods. Additionally the recommendations for no fast food, no refined sugars, no trans fats, and no foods with nitrites are nutritionally sound. However the rest of his advice is not only misleading but potentially dangerous. Frankly I have seen other diets, including many detox diets, that are just as, if not more, dangerous that Mr Trudeau’s. Yet the authors of these diets are not being singled out by the FTC.

Just goes to show don’t piss off the FTC!