The Weight Loss Industry: Fact or Fiction

The Weight Loss Industry: Fact or Fiction

Through the years, we have watched and even ridden the waves that the weight loss industry has created in our lifestyles. However, as it continues to explode with growth, we are left in the wake wondering if we experienced any benefits from what it was offering in the first place. Instead of reducing obesity and improving health and fitness, the industry perpetuates the image associated with popular culture, all the while providing half truths and misleading advertising. No one person is alike, just like no one diet is alike. Many companies realized that people respond to different stimuli in respect to the products they advertise to the public (hence the extensive array of different diet programs that are available in the market today). Some include food reduction diets, low fat diets, low carbohydrate diets and liquid diets. There are also commercial weight loss programs available, that provide support systems and education to increase the success rate of achieving and maintaining weight loss. But among the good intentions of these programs and diets there is a lot of misinformation that plays on the vulnerabilities of consumers. These have been enabled by mass media and the eternally expanding obsession with pop culture.

The industry initially began to build momentum as a means of trying to improve the health and wellness of society, but soon the vulnerabilities of its consumers were realized. From there it began to exploit consumer's desire to be viewed in a certain image. Regardless, the need for proven methods to reduce weight is nonetheless still necessary, now more than ever. The obesity rate in America has skyrocketed with almost a fifty percent increase over the last twenty years . One third of Americans are overweight and one third is obese. Approximately thirty percent of the American population was classified as obese in 2003, which is expected to continue increasing . Preadolescent and adolescent obesity is also on the rise. Obesity in adults is a major factor in developing coronary artery disease, some cancers, hypertension and type II diabetes. If this epidemic continues to grow, it will cause extreme strain on the health care industry and cost the government billions of dollars on something that is, in itself, preventable. Many dietitians and medical practitioners believe that a reduction of five to ten percent in the weight of someone who is overweight or obese, that is reasonably maintained, could result in significant health benefits .

Society itself has become fixated on the idea of portraying a certain image associated with an ideal weight. This is fueled by the necessity to be thin represented largely in Hollywood. Being thin has now brought with it a status and social benefit as people associate body size and shape with interactions in everyday life. We have been conditioned to believe that being thin and being beautiful brings with is acceptance, admiration and love from our peers. People's need for acceptance and their fear of rejection fools them into thinking that the new weight loss product advertised will work even though the last four failed, catching consumers in a cyclical trend. Rather than being realistic and setting achievable goals, we want immediacy which continues to propel the industry. It is difficult for us to believe that in a day and age of immeasurable technological advances, that we would not have a product that could give us the immediate results we are looking for. Are we guilty for wanting to be perceived as beautiful? Of course not, although society's view of what is beautiful has morphed into unhealthy territory as it is currently following a very narrow description. The weight loss industry has now filled up with every Tom, Jack and Harry trying to capitalize on this movement that has resulted in countless products that purport "fast" and "miraculous" results. They come in pill, liquid, or powder form and or include equipment that all claim to shed the pounds fast and easy. Unfortunately for the consumer almost all their claims are false. Consumers spend over $46 billion US every year which is forecasted to grow to approximately $61 billion US by 2008 . It is no longer the need for weight loss that is drawing manufacturers into the market; it is now the dollar figure.

The manufacturers that are putting these "miracle" products on the market are very good at preying on the increasing lack of self worth and self esteem in the marketplace. But they are leaving out the critical information that educates you on the actual successes and the dangers the product may have accredited to it. False and misleading ads are widespread in the industry. The Federal trade commission ran a review of more than 300 ads from many of the different forms of media, to find that more than half the weight loss products advertised promised much more than they could ever deliver . Many of them also carry with it some sort of endorsement from a doctor, real or fictitious, claiming its scientifically proven means of reducing your weight. Often times though, there is no scientific evidence to back up those claims. The largest and most influencing factor in the marketing of these products is the so called testimonials and success stories that follow. The before and after images of men and women achieving the most impressive weight loss in short periods of time, and attaining hard and shapely figures, immediately capture our attention and play off our self esteem issues. Many of us can relate to the before photos and dream of quickly achieving the same results as those portrayed. Most times however, the results achieved are medically unlikely and at times impossible. The actual rate of success among users of these products, that maintained that weight loss, is only five to ten percent . But yet that isn't stated in these ads and consumers continue to fall prey to these types of advertisements. In some cases, a company promoting a weight loss product has even paid healthy body builders to put on weight and lose it quickly to give them the desired shots for