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Diet Frauds & Scams: Consumer Alert

There are thousands of weight loss companies located in the United States, and thousands more located abroad. All are competing for your weight loss dollars in a highly competitive $40 billion annual market (U.S. alone). Some are excellent companies with long, proven track records. Others are fly-by-night companies that make outrageous claims unsubstantiated by any research. Some companies have been around for 40 years, while others will be gone a few months from now. This is the nature of the business, which is largely unregulated.

At BestDietForMe.com, we provide information to protect you, the dieter, and referrals to other organizations that have published guidelines for safe weight loss, and for legitimate practices that should be followed. Our goal is to save you money, time and effort, and to prevent you from getting scammed.

Following are some of the more well-known organizations that exist to protect dieters:

Federal Trade Commission

Bureau of Consumer Protection

601 Pennsylvania Ave., Room 4302

Washington, DC 20580

See their website: www.consumer.gov/weightloss for the publication entitled:

   “Finding a Weight Loss Program That Works for You.”

This publication was created by the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management, which as organized in 1998 to promote reliable methods for healthy weight management. The partnership is composed of organizations and individuals from industry, public advocacy organizations, government agencies, scientific associations, and universities. The Partnership issues Voluntary Guidelines for Providers of Weight Loss Products or Services, to encourage weight loss programs to provide consumers with basic program information.

Excellent information and tools are contained in this publication, such as a personal health profile checklist, questions to ask, the risks of being overweight, a checklist for evaluating weight loss programs, and a membership list of weight loss providers that below to the Partnership.

To receive a copy of the voluntary guidelines, go to the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management Web page at: www.consumer.gov/weightloss, or write the Federal Trade Commission (see address above).

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The National Council Against Health Fraud  www.quackwatch.org

BestDietForMe.com analysts have known and respected the work of the head of this organization, a consumer advocate, Stephen Barrett, M.D., for more than ten years. He used to publish a nutrition newsletter, but sold that publication and is now a retired psychiatrist residing in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Barrett operates nine web sites, and is the medical editor of Prometheus Books. He is also a peer-review panelist for several leading medical journals. He is the author of 49 books. In 1984, Dr. Barrett received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is Vice President of the National Council Against Health Fraud. This is a non-profit organization, and his analyses are indeed unbiased. He is NOT linked to or funded by the AMA or any other mainstream medical association.

The above-mentioned website is extremely informative and has many articles and links related to all kinds of health quackery, including weight loss, chiropractic, herbal remedies, "alternative medicine", outrageous claims, multilevel marketing schemes, and more. He systematically and logically explains why people should steer clear of certain products and practitioners, with ample scientific evidence and references to back it up. We consider this a "must visit" web site.

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Other sources include the following:

“Dietary Guidelines for Americans”, see website: www.odphp.osophs.dhh.gov/pubs/dietguid/, or write to:

ODPHP Communication

Support Center

PO Box 37366

Washington, DC  20013-7366

301-468-5960

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