HOODIA SLIMMING PRODUCTS
A consumer advice programme on BBC television called Old Dogs, New Tricks hosted by Esther Rantzen and Lynn Faulds Wood - well known in the UK for exposing the tactics of dodgy businesses and scam products - turned its attention to hoodia slimming products.
A company called Elixir of Life, based in Jersey, advertise miracle slimming pills called Inferno, which promise to 'pop fat cells like bubble wrap', and Hoodislim, made from a South American cactus called hoodia supposedly an appetite suppressant.
The ladies travel to Jersey to try and find the company but only find a distribution warehouse, who won't reveal where the owners of the company are based. The only other clue is a picture of a 'doctor' in a white coat in the brochure, guaranteeing that the pills work.
Both sets of pills contain herbal ingredients, so they are taken to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for analysis. Neither of the pills contain anything that could have the effect promised in the brochure and one of the UK's top diet experts, Dr Susan Jebb, emphasises there is no miracle way to lose weight.
The man in the white coat is found. A Dr Brian Whitton, he is a chemist who manufactures the pills and is paid a consultancy fee and allows his photo to be used to endorse the pills. He eventually reveals the owner of the company to be Robin Brown, who runs a family business in Lincolnshire called Healthy Marketing & Fulfillment Ltd. They deny being Elixir of Life but admit they are a customer of theirs.
After Esther's visit to Dr Whitton he contacts the company and asks them to remove his photo from their catalogues.
The programme concludes that there are dozens more hoodia products available via mail order and the internet but, as clinical trials are just underway, there's no evidence that taking hoodia would have any real benefit.
Copyright 2006 robbiex
A company called Elixir of Life, based in Jersey, advertise miracle slimming pills called Inferno, which promise to 'pop fat cells like bubble wrap', and Hoodislim, made from a South American cactus called hoodia supposedly an appetite suppressant.
The ladies travel to Jersey to try and find the company but only find a distribution warehouse, who won't reveal where the owners of the company are based. The only other clue is a picture of a 'doctor' in a white coat in the brochure, guaranteeing that the pills work.
Both sets of pills contain herbal ingredients, so they are taken to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for analysis. Neither of the pills contain anything that could have the effect promised in the brochure and one of the UK's top diet experts, Dr Susan Jebb, emphasises there is no miracle way to lose weight.
The man in the white coat is found. A Dr Brian Whitton, he is a chemist who manufactures the pills and is paid a consultancy fee and allows his photo to be used to endorse the pills. He eventually reveals the owner of the company to be Robin Brown, who runs a family business in Lincolnshire called Healthy Marketing & Fulfillment Ltd. They deny being Elixir of Life but admit they are a customer of theirs.
After Esther's visit to Dr Whitton he contacts the company and asks them to remove his photo from their catalogues.
The programme concludes that there are dozens more hoodia products available via mail order and the internet but, as clinical trials are just underway, there's no evidence that taking hoodia would have any real benefit.
Copyright 2006 robbiex
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