Many of us have wished we could magically shed a few pounds. So it’s no surprise that "miracle" weight-loss products rake in millions of dollars – especially when their advertisements sandwich (so to speak) endorsements by leading news organizations between pictures of impossibly ripped bodies. It’s also no surprise that the products rarely live up to their billing. This lesson assesses misleading claims for a weight-loss product called Hoodia that is advertised heavily on the Internet and elsewhere. Students will dig beneath the hype to find the single scientific study on which the marketing is based and analyze whether it can support the claims.
Objectives
In this lesson students will:
- Assess the credibility of various Internet sites that advertise and review Hoodia weight-loss products.
- Review news stories on Hoodia weight-loss products and compare to the claims made by advertisers of Hoodia.
- Review studies conducted on the effectiveness of Hoodia weight-loss products by the manufacturers of those products and assess their credibility and the significance of their findings.
- Assess whether enough evidence exists to accurately determine the effectiveness of Hoodia as a weight-loss product.
- Review the extent of FDA regulation of “dietary supplements” like Hoodia and take a position on whether there’s enough oversight of the products’ effectiveness and safety.