People are wasting money on 'slimming' products

A nutrition expert has warned slimmers they are wasting money on useless weight loss products. Professor Mike Lean from the University of Glasgow said dieters are blowing billions on ineffective food products and new EU regulations need to be rigorously enforced to protect consumers. In a British Medical Journal article, he said: "The distinction between medicines and foods is sometimes unclear when they are marketed for health reasons, and consumers can be misled. "Medicines are licensed in Europe only after stringent experimental research to establish safety and efficacy. In the UK, this process is regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Food products marketed for health have largely escaped these controls." It is already illegal under food labelling regulations to claim that food products can treat or prevent disease. But Professor Lean said: "However, huge numbers of such claims are still made, particularly for obesity." He added: "Many such claims are not overt or verbal. Using 'implied claims' in brand names, and images on packaging, they are positioned and promoted, by staff or 'testimonials' on vendors' websites, in such a way that consumers are likely to be misled. "Under the new regulations, products or services that falsely (without substantiation) claim or imply that they can improve health are now clearly illegal." A new survey for the British Heart Foundation reports that three quarters of children do not realise a poor diet can contribute to ill health. Earlier this month the Department of Health said 90 per cent of children could be at risk of obesity-induced illnesses by 2050.

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ITN | November 26, 2008

Tags:. .stringent. .slimmers. .efficacy. .overt. .misled