Promotional materials for slimming products and services tend to use certain tricks to convince consumers.
The first step to discerning fact from myth is to be aware of such weight loss tips and tricks. Here are the common ones:
Cure-All
If a product claims to have multiple benefits, such as being the best way to lose weight, improve your skin and increase your energy level while also reducing your blood pressure if you have high blood pressure (and raising your blood pressure if you have “low blood pressure”), it is probably a fake. If there were such a product, the manufacturers would not need to advertise it in the first place. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true!
Multi-Action
Similar to the above, there are products that claim to work via many modes of action. An example would be a dietary supplement that is able to block fat, starch, cholesterol and toxins all at the same time while increasing your metabolic rate. If the product had such a wide-ranging effect and such indiscriminate modes of action, it would likely block essential nutrients as well.
Opposing Actions
Claims of opposing actions, such as removing fat while firming up the skin, have to be viewed with suspicion.
Anything that is effective in removing fat under the skin will surely cause the skin to sag.
Anecdotal Evidence
Pay no attention to claims like “I know of someone who lost 2 kg after taking XX herbal product for just a week…”. Such isolated cases are merely anecdotal evidence, which the scientific community gives very little weight, if any.
The reason is simple, though it may not be immediately obvious to some. Let’s say, for instance, we administer a product that we know has absolutely no weight-loss effect, such as a charcoal tablet, to 10 people for a week and weigh them at the beginning and end of the week. Because the placebo is known to be ineffective and because our weight naturally varies from day to day, you would expect five of the subjects to weigh slightly more than their initial weight and the other five to weigh less so that the average weight change is zero.
If I were to tell you that I know of five people who took my product and lost weight after just a week, without telling you what happened to the other five, am I giving you an accurate picture? Likewise, a slimming centre could boast of a client who lost weight, but would it reveal how many clients either did not lose weight or gained weight for every client that did lose weight?