Weight Loss Product Warnings: How to Spot Bad Pills
There are numerous ways to make a bad weight loss product look good. How to spot bad pills is the first article in a series on evaluating weight loss products. My hope is to provide you with reliable, easy to understand, and helpful advice on spotting bad weight loss products.
For the purposes of this article, the judgment, weight loss pill, refers to over-the-counter and non-prescription weight loss supplements. The following six tips will help you identify weight loss pills that don’t back up the claims with evidence, cite poorly designed research studies, don’t work, and possibly cause serious harm.
The tips, arranged in no particular order, are effective at detecting blatant omissions of evidence, misrepresentations, and outright lies. However, many marketers have become quite skilled in the art of statistical illusion, fooling even those of us with extensive experience in statistical analysis.
What does this mean for you? Use the six tips of How to spot a bad pill as part of your own overall evaluation and not as a final evaluation. A “good” weight loss pill based on my six tips does not necessarily translate into a well-studied, safe, and effective product. However, a bad pill here is a bad pill everywhere.
With that quick disclaimer, let’s get started…
Bad Pill Tip #1: Referrals
Match each statement cited with a reference. The reference should be clear and include the author’s name, study location, main sponsor, study title, publication source, year, volume, and pages.
A strong claim about a weight loss pill should not be sales oriented. I fully understand that there is a time to sell. However, I guess you are beyond that and need real information about this weight loss product in question. As you research the pill, and the sales copy never seems to work, that’s a red flag.
Let’s look at two different claims. The first is NOT a solid scientific claim…“Amazing new weight loss pill that maximizes weight loss…”. This belongs to the sales copy.
Instead, here is a claim well-founded in science…
“Percentage weight loss was significantly greater in the test group at the end of the 5-week study…(6)”
Notice that the reference is clearly cited and shown with the number 6. This identifies the sixth listing on the reference page as the source. This opens a topic related to the reference page. All ads and websites must have a referring page.
In fact, the referring page is more valuable than the testimonials. It is a list of actual studies used to make a case for a weight loss product.
To see an example of a reference page, use this link, Weight Loss Pill Reference Page [http://www.weight-loss-professional.com/references.html].
Bad Pills Tip #2: Mechanism of Action
Check how the weight loss pill, also called mechanism of action. Every pill, including prescription drugs, must have the mechanism of action clearly indicated with references. Don’t label a weight loss pill “good” without a description of how it works.
Bad Pill Tip #3 — Author
Check the main author referenced for making the best claim or the author referenced for making the most claims. Verifying, in this case, means verifying the reference as “real” and also evaluating the “merchant” to see how accessible the information is to obtain and review.
Bad Pill Tip #4 — Subjects
Investigate the number of subjects that have been tested using the weight loss pill in question. This is hard to judge, but understand that the smaller the study, the less reliable the results. A study with 10 subjects is not enough to make meaningful claims.
When isolating a study, the number of subjects needed to produce reliable results depends on several factors. I suggest you refer to the information provided to you for references to choose the correct number of subjects. If they take the time to write about it in their official study report, chances are they had the best possible number of subjects.
In general, if you are reviewing a study that measures one variable, you would like to see at least 50 subjects (n=50). However, we often lower this standard given the difficulty of recruiting for studies.
Bad Pills Tip #5: Side Effects
A well-designed and unbiased study does not hide reported side effects (also called adverse events). This should be as easy to find as the title of the sales copy or the order form. If it’s hidden, stay away from that weight loss pill.
Bad Pill Tip #6: Help
If all else fails and you can’t call it a good or a bad pill, call your health care provider. Let the person who answers the phone know exactly what she needs. Say something like, “I need feedback on a new weight loss pill called Pill ABC. Is it a bad pill for me to take or is it a good one?”
Personalize why you need the information and response time will triple. Since you have made it clear that you are considering taking the pill, you will be contacted quickly to avoid any adverse events. If they don’t, consider finding a new health care provider.
Obviously, there are several other areas to review a weight loss pill. But here are 6 great tips to help you decide if the pill is good or bad. It just boils down to verifying very basic information that any credible scientist or doctor would immediately show or provide.
Not getting past just one of the tips is enough to label it a bad weight loss pill.
To a Healthy Life!
Dr. Michael A. Smith
Basic Diet Website and Resources