Fat chance of diet food supplements helping you lose weight

Published on Monday 12 July 2010 14:13

Food supplements designed to speed up weight loss do not work, according to a new study.

A range of supplements - including those based on cabbage, fibre and plant extracts - are no better than "fake" dummy pills in helping people slim, said researchers from the Peninsula Medical School at the universities of Exeter and Plymouth.

In a separate study, German researchers also found no evidence that supplements aid weight loss.

The UK team reviewed existing data, including on guar gum, bitter orange, calcium, glucomannan (a dietary fibre), chitosan (listed as a fat absorber), chromium picolinate (sometimes sold as an appetite suppressant) and green tea.

Presenting their results, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, at the International Conference on Obesity in Stockholm, they wrote: "The findings from systematic reviews fail to provide sufficient evidence that any food supplement can be recommended for reducing body weight.

"A wide range of herbal and non-herbal food supplements is currently being promoted for weight loss. While mainstream drugs for body weight reduction must demonstrate efficacy before receiving a licence, food supplements do not need to meet this requirement.

"Few food supplements have therefore been submitted to clinical trials, and many healthcare professionals feel uncertain about their therapeutic value."

Meanwhile, experts at the University of Gottingen in Germany carried out an eight-week trial on nine weight-loss supplements bought over the counter.

A total of 189 overweight people were split into ten groups, with some given the weight-loss supplements. While those on the supplements did lose weight, they did not lose any more than people taking a fake pill.

Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said: "There are no quick fixes when it comes to weight loss. To reduce weight we need to be using up more energy than we are taking in.

"A huge amount of money is spent on the dieting industry, but it's often money down the drain. Small, sustainable changes to diet and physical activity are likely to be the most effective approach to keeping weight off in the long term - and it needn't cost you a penny."

Nutritionist Carrie Ruxton said supplements could be beneficial when bought over the counter rather than online. Referring to these "safe" options, she said: "They do little harm and may indeed motivate consumers to comply with diet and exercise regimes by inducing a small initial weight loss."

But she warned: "Supplements for weight management are no substitute for a calorie- controlled diet and exercise as a means of controlling weight.

"Weight management supplements vary widely in their efficacy. The European Food Safety Authority is assessing the evidence for a number of products and will announce, within the next few months, which ones will be able to continue making weight-loss claims."

She said the evidence for products such as green tea having a role in weight management was "stronger than for most other ingredients", but added: "There are too few randomised, controlled trials in humans."x