Most slimming products are a con, claims nutrition expert

Overweight and obese people around the world are being conned out of billions of pounds a year by companies selling bogus health foods that do nothing to help them lose weight, a leading scientist has warned.Michael Lean, professor of human nutrition at Glasgow University, told the Guardian that of the hundreds of slimming strategies that are actively marketed at overweight people, the only ones proven to work are low-calorie diets, exercise programmes, the drugs orlistat and sibutramine, and in some cases bariatric surgery, .In an editorial in the British Medical Journal, Lean attacks the "commercial exploitation of vulnerable patients with quack medicines" and calls for strict enforcement of new laws that have recently made it illegal for companies to mislead customers over the health benefits of their products.Unlike medicines, which must be proved to be effective in clinical trials, the regulations around health foods are less stringent. In May this...

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