Why Diets Make Us Fat by Sandra Aamodt

Author:Sandra Aamodt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-10T14:28:53+00:00

Weight Loss, Inc.

Experts agree that preventing weight gain is much easier than achieving sustainable weight loss, but that’s not what the diet industry advertises. Well, the information is there in the fine print, thanks to federal regulators, but not where it’s easy to notice. As we know by now, the usual results of dieting are dismal. Counting calories every day for life makes a person about seven pounds lighter, on average.18 A typical Weight Watchers client has lost six pounds after two years. A loss of that magnitude wouldn’t change the pants size of many people.

In 1993, the Federal Trade Commission charged that five weight-loss programs made false and unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness of their products. The companies included Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and Nutrisystem. Among the false claims were statements that clients were typically successful in reaching their weight-loss goals and that they maintained their weight loss permanently. To settle the charges, the companies were required to add disclaimers, “For many dieters, weight loss is temporary” and “Results not typical,” to their ad copy. They also promised not to claim long-term success based on studies that lasted less than two years. In 2002, the FTC released a report suggesting that little had changed.19 The authors estimated that 40 percent of weight-loss ads made a claim that is almost certainly false, and 55 percent made a claim that is very likely to be false. The struggle to regulate the industry continues, with seven new cases filed against weight-loss products in 2014 as part of Operation Failed Resolution.

The most prominent organization that claims to advocate for obese people is the Obesity Action Coalition, “dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by the disease of obesity.” By now readers may be unsurprised that its major funding comes from the weight-loss industry. Its top three funders, the Chairman’s Council Platinum members, in February 2015 were Covidien, which makes weight-loss surgery equipment; Eisai, which makes the weight-loss drug Belviq; and Novo Nordisk, which makes diabetes medications. Weight-loss surgery interests are well represented among the lower-tier sponsors as well. The Obesity Action Coalition promotes weight-loss surgery as a “safe and effective treatment” for obesity, despite its known risks, while they do not consider any approaches to obesity that do not involve weight loss.

In addition to these attempts to influence patients, weight-loss companies also pay doctors and lobbyists to increase the market for their services. The companies that make diet drugs have spent $10 million to $11 million per year since 2011 lobbying the federal government. A recent focus of their activity is the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act, which would direct Medicare to pay for diet drugs—mostly for people in an age range (over sixty-five) where obesity is not associated with excess mortality risk. These companies also provide money to scientific societies. Perhaps coincidentally, several of them issued guidelines recommending more treatment of obesity. The Obesity Society, the American Association of Endocrinologists, and the Endocrine Society have collectively received at least $4 million from drug companies since 2011.

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