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From Quackwatch consumer digest: quackwatch.org

Slim Chance Awards issued

Francie M. Berg, M.S., who operates the Healthy Weight Network (http://www.healthyweightnetwork.com) has issued the 21st annual set of "Slim Chance Awards" to weight-loss scheme promoters. Her 2009 picks are:

**Worst Product: Hydroxycut. The FDA has warned consumers to stop using Hydroxycut products from Iovate Health Sciences USA, a distributor for the Canadian company of the same name. The agency has received reports of one death due to liver failure and 23 reports of serious health problems.



**Most Outrageous: Pills spiked with powerful undisclosed drugs. This year the FDA found so many diet pills secretly laced with powerful drugs that it was impossible for the Slim Chance selection panel to single out any, and could only group them together as "dangerous and outrageous." For more information the agency's "Questions and answers about FDA's initiative against contaminated weight loss products." http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/QuestionsAnswers/ucm136187.htm

**Worst Claim: QVC shopping network. The popular TV home shopping channel QVC, one of the world's largest multimedia retailers, has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it made false and unsubstantiated claims about For Women Only weight loss pills, Lite Bites weight-loss food bars and shakes, Bee-Alive Royal Jelly, and Lipofactor Cellulite Target Lotion.

**Worst Gimmick: Kinoki Foot Pads. The FTC has charged Kinoki Foot Pads with deceptive advertising for their claims that applying the pads to the soles of feet at night will remove heavy metals, metabolic wastes, toxins, parasites, and cellulite from people's bodies. The ads also claim that the foot pads can treat depression, fatigue, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. Since the foot pads darken, this is claimed as evidence that toxins are being drawn out of the body, but investigators have shown that the darkening is caused by moisture and has nothing to do with "toxins."

A complete archive of the Slim Chance Awards is indexed at http://www.dietscam.org/slim/index.shtml