It’s everywhere - on TV and radio, on the Internet, in magazines, and on flyers posted on your car windshield and telephone polls - ads describing a miraculous way to lose weight quickly. The truth is that if there really is a miracle cure, 64.5 percent of adult Americans would not be overweight. But, that is a fact. Even more eye opening are trends indicating that prevalence rates of overweight and obesity are likely to increase. Numerous products and programs offering weight loss solutions are available to consumers, who must be properly educated on how to evaluate which ones are effective, safe and offer realistic results.

• Approximately 40 percent of women and 25 percent of men attempt to lose weight at any given time.
• Nationwide, 55 percent of Americans are actively trying to maintain current weight.
• Approximately 45 million Americans diet each year.
• Consumers spend about $30 billion per year trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain. This figure includes spending on diet sodas, diet foods, artificially sweetened products, appetite suppressants, diet books, videos and cassettes, medically supervised and commercial programs, and fitness clubs.
• Spending on weight loss programs is estimated at $1 to 2 billion per year.
• U.S. food manufacturers are estimated to have spent $7 billion on advertising of highly processed and packaged foods in 1997.

Partnership for Healthy Weight Management

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has brought 150 cases of deceptive advertising over the years against providers of diet pills, potions, and devices, and against commercial diet clinics.
• The Partnership for Healthy Weight Management, a group of representatives from government, academia, industry groups and organizations promoting the public interest, including AOA, was formed in 1997.
• The purpose of the Partnership is to help the public improve their understanding of obesity and make informed decisions on weight loss products and programs.

  Informing Consumers

  • In 1999, the Partnership released voluntary guidelines for providers of weight loss products to disclose certain information to consumers. Read a portion of the Voluntary Guidelines below and read the entire Voluntary Guidelines for Providers of Weight Loss Products or Services at the Partnership's website.
  • Consumers are encouraged to look for program and product information regarding outcome (average weight loss and weight loss maintained), although providers who follow the guidelines need not voluntarily disclose this information.

  Voluntary Guidelines: Choosing a Weight Loss Product or Program

  Consumers should ask about:
  

  • staff qualifications and key components of the program
  • risks associated with overweight and obesity
  • risks associated with the products or services
  • costs of the program
  • advice on the difficulty of maintaining weight loss and how to increase the probability of success.

For consumer protection information, contact: