TrimSpa Sued

Anna Nicole Smith and TrimSpa Inc. have been sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight-loss pill is false or misleading.

Janet Luna and three people identified as her guardians were named in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges deceptive business practices and a violation of California's unfair competition law.

They are asking for unspecified damages, restitution and an injunction preventing Smith and New Jersey-based TrimSpa, maker of TrimSpa X32, from making claims that users of the pills can lose substantial amounts of weight.

Smith, 39, has endorsed TrimSpa and is a spokeswoman.

Messages left with Joseph Farzam, an attorney for the plaintiff, and Ron Rale, Smith's lawyer, weren't immediately returned early Tuesday.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission announced TrimSpa would pay $1.5 million to settle allegations that the diet-products company's weight-loss claims were unsubstantiated.

TrimSpa released a statement following the announcement saying it supported actions to clean up the weight-loss industry, but disputed the federal agency's allegation that a handful of TrimSpa advertisements that ran in 2003 and 2004 had insufficient substantiation.

TrimSpa also disagreed with any inference that its X32 product has no scientific support.

FTC sues makers of diet pills for false claims; ignores Big Pharma's false claims

NewsTarget) The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced last week that it had settled with four weight loss pill companies for more than $25 million over complaints the companies had made false, unsubstantiated health claims for their products.

Marketers of four products -- Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, TrimSpa and One-A-Day WeightSmart -- settled with the FTC over allegations of false weight loss claims, surrendering millions in money and assets, and consenting to limit future claims.

"You won't find weight loss in a bottle of pills that claims it has the latest scientific breakthrough or miracle ingredient," said Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the FTC. "Paying for fad science is a good way to lose cash, not pounds."

Two marketers of Xenadrine EFX are set to pay the FTC from $8 million to $12.8 million to settle complaints of unsubstantiated claims on its product, which was featured in numerous ads in People magazine, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan and Men's Fitness magazine.

Seven marketers of CortiSlim and CortiStress weight loss products are set to turn over assets totaling roughly $12 million, to settle allegations of false weight loss claims advertised in radio, print, internet and television media.

Marketers of TrimSpa -- the weight loss product that features Anna Nicole Smith as its spokesperson -- will pay $1.5 million to the FTC over supposedly false claims that the product would help consumers lose as much weight as they wanted without much effort.

One-A-Day WeightSmart maker Bayer Corporation settled with the FTC for $3.2 million for claiming its product, which contains the greet tea extract EGCG, helps consumers manage weight and boost metabolism.

However, critics of the FTC's ruling say the commission is unfairly targeting makers of natural products, while ignoring false and unsubstantiated claims made by pharmaceutical companies in prime-time advertisements.

"When it comes to consumer health, there's a double standard at the FTC," said consumer health advocate Mike Adams, author of "Spam Filters for Your Brain." "Pills and supplements are strongly scrutinized for false claims, while the false advertising and exaggerated health claims of prescription drugs are routinely ignored.

"The FTC, much like the FDA, seems bent on destroying the nutritional supplements industry while ignoring the real threat to the health and safety of Americans: dangerous prescription medications.

"Careful analysis has shown that 94 percent of drug company promotional claims have absolutely no basis in scientific fact, and drug company television ads do not even require FDA review before being aired. Where is the FTC when it comes to false advertising by Big Pharma?" Adams asked.

Bariatric surgery kills 5 percent of patients: Weight loss surgery takes deadly toll

A new analysis of bariatric surgery patients, published in the journal Nature, reveals that this surgical procedure may be far more dangerous than most people believe. An astonishing 4.6 percent of patients who undergo bariatric surgery are dead within a year. That's almost one out of 20 people who die within a year following the surgery.

That's a huge number, and it indicates the level of risk associated with bariatric surgery. With the number of bariatric surgeries performed each year in this country approaching 50,000, we're talking about several thousand people dying each year from this procedure.

Most surgeries are medically unjustified

I have no doubt that in the years and decades ahead, historians will look back on this present-day practice of surgically removing parts of people's digestive tracts, and they will characterize this as barbaric and medically unjustified. They will look back and wonder why surgeons would remove entire sections of people's digestive tracts in an effort to help them lose weight. Of course, part of the answer is because these surgeons are in business to make money, and they make money by performing surgeries, regardless of whether or not those surgeries are actually safe or effective.

For example, 60 percent of heart bypass surgeries performed in the United States are completely unnecessary. There's no medical justification whatsoever. However, they are huge profit centers for surgeons, hospitals and even anesthesiologists. Everyone makes a buck when people have heart bypass surgery, but is the patient truly helped by it?

More often than not, the patient isn't helped. In fact, they are harmed by it. The same thing happens with bariatric surgery, except in some ways it's even worse. You can't really grow back the stomach after a surgeon has cut half of it out. You can never fully recover from bariatric surgery. It is a permanent removal of vital organs and tissues that belong there. These are organs that you are supposed to have to be a healthy human being.

Fraudulent marketing schemes fool people into getting bariatric surgery

I strongly object to the kind of marketing being done to promote bariatric surgery. In the marketing materials for this procedure, there are always pictures of really thin people who have never actually undergone the procedure. There is a lot of verbiage that exaggerates the benefits of the procedure and minimizes the risks, if they are even mentioned.

For example, most bariatric surgery patients are never informed that one of the most common side effects of the surgery is hypoglycemia or a form of hyperinsulinemia, which is an insulin reaction to the ingestion of food. This is now recognized as a common side effect of bariatric surgery or gastric bypass surgery. When this happens to you, you're put in a very difficult spot as the patient because the thing that's typically suggested to you to solve this problem of your pancreas producing "too much insulin" is to surgically remove part of your pancreas.

How's that for brilliant? The surgeons harm your body with the first surgery, and then they create a condition where they get repeat business because they have to remove part of your pancreas to balance your blood sugar. If this is the approach to healing in this country, I'd hate to see what these people would actually do if they were trying to harm someone.

I don't think that's the way nature intended the human body to achieve a perfect state of health. It's not about figuring out how many organs or tissues you can remove. It is supposed to be about supporting the organs and tissues that are already there and helping them regain their strength and vitality. These surgeries accomplish none of that.

Getting back to the marketing of bariatric surgery, this procedure is frequently marketed to people using fraudulent means, because the real risks are never really communicated to patients. The difficulty of undergoing this procedure and recovering from it is never quite fully explained.

Healthy alternatives to bariatric surgery

All this makes you wonder what kind of person would undergo bariatric surgery. Obviously, they feel like they've run out of options. Maybe they have tried all kinds of diets, but they're still eating enormous amounts of food. I guarantee you there are a couple of things they've never tried.

One solution they've never tried is eating foods of high nutritional density. This means getting all the necessary minerals into the diet, because one of the reasons we keep craving and overeating is that we are de-mineralized. Our soils no longer contain trace minerals or even the macro minerals that the human body was designed to consume, so our fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, etc.) lacks these minerals. And when it comes to factory foods, nearly all of the food products on grocery store shelves is completely devoid of all but a few minerals.

Did you know that white flour has 90 percent less mineral content than whole grain wheat? You lose almost 100 percent of minerals like magnesium, zinc and calcium when you process these grains. When you live on the processed food diet, you're hungry all the time because your body says, "Keep on eating until I get the right minerals." So, you just keep eating and eating until you become obese. No matter what diet you try, you can't get any thinner because your body still isn't getting the minerals it needs.

If you really want to lose weight, one of the first things you've got to do is start eating organic fruits and vegetables. You must get away from processed foods. Ideally, you need to start taking supplements with minerals and trace minerals. That's a great combination to calm your cravings.

Avoid excitotoxins in foods

The other thing that I guarantee most people haven't tried in terms of losing weight is avoiding all of the chemicals added to foods to make you hungry. These chemicals are called excitotoxins. The most common one is monosodium glutamate, or MSG. This ingredient is hidden in lots of other food ingredients such as yeast extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed vegetable protein and so on. This chemical interferes with the normal healthy function of your endocrine system. That's the system that regulates appetite in your body. When this system isn't functioning correctly, your body never knows when you've eaten enough, so it never turns off your appetite and you continue to eat and eat and eat.

Weight loss can be achieved quite easily through the re-mineralization of your body. Key factors include diet and supplementation, exposure to natural sunlight -- which is a natural appetite suppressant -- and the avoidance of all metabolic disrupters. Metabolic disruptors are ingredients in the food supply. I reveal them all in the book Grocery Warning, where I talk about them in great detail. The main ones to avoid are the excitotoxins, which include monosodium glutamate, yeast extract and other variations of this chemical. If you do that, you don't need bariatric surgery. You'll lose weight as a side effect of making healthy food choices.

Now, a few people will say, "I don't want to give up my nacho chips; they have MSG, but I don' t want to give those up. I don't want to give up eating my canned soup." It's always a choice for each and every person. If you choose that route, and you get super obese, you may end up needing bariatric surgery, because nothing else is going to lose weight for you, and guess what? When you have bariatric surgery, you won't be able to eat those Doritos, canned soups and all those other excitotoxins anyway. Plus, half of your digestive tract will be gone, ripped out of your body. You'll have internal scar tissue, and you may have pain for the rest of your life. You may have hypoglycemia that might require surgery to remove part of your pancreas. Statistics show you might have a 4.6 percent chance of being dead within one year after undergoing bariatric surgery. So, if having your nacho chips, canned soup and MSG-tainted salad dressing is really that important to you, it's your choice.

MSG is present in most processed meats, including bacon, breakfast sausage, beef jerky and pepperoni. Almost all of these contain MSG, but you can read food labels to find out which ones do and which ones don't. Some people are so unwilling to change their diet that they simply refuse to stop eating these dangerous foods. In fact, they opt to undergo surgery instead. That's a choice I do not understand. I honestly believe that most people are only making that choice because they have never been given access to true information about foods, healing, weight loss and nutrition, which could save them from obesity, bariatric surgery, and a painful death.

Avoid dangerous surgeries to obtain ideal health

People are intentionally misinformed about health by the medical industry, drug companies and the FDA, all of which want to limit the treatment of disease to drugs, surgery, chemotherapy and other conventional therapies. If patients just had access to good information, they'd make better choices, and far fewer patients would undergo gastric bypass surgery in the first place. Of course, that's exactly what the surgeons in this country don't want to happen. They want to see more people opting for surgery, because that means more money in their pockets.

Hospitals and clinics want the same thing. Disease = revenue. Education = loss of revenue. In this way, conventional medicine is clearly against patient education about disease prevention. The only "education" provided by conventional medicine is based on claims for a new drug or surgical procedure.

But things are different here on NewsTarget.com. I want you to be a healthy, thin, fit person at your ideal bodyweight. I want you to avoid dangerous surgical procedures. I don't want you to die within a year or live the rest of your life obese, in a state of chronic pain and addicted to prescription drugs or under the care of a surgeon who thinks of you as merely another source of revenue. I want you to be free to make your own choices about the future of your health and free to experience all the wonderful lessons that go hand-in-hand with that kind of healing journey. I believ

Strong Reasons to Start Strength Training (press release)

Strength training -- whether you use weight training machines, elastic resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells or simply the weight of your body -- offers many health benefits.

The January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter lists reasons why it’s good to add strength training to your exercise regimen. Benefits include:

* Increasing bone density: This reduces the risk and impact of osteoporosis.

* Reducing the risk of falling: Strength training contributes to better balance, coordination and agility.

* Maintaining a healthy weight: Pound for pound, muscle burns three times more calories than fat. Increased muscle mass enables your body to burn calories more quickly and efficiently.

* Alleviating chronic back pain: People often experience less pain after strengthening their back and abdominal muscles.

* Making everyday tasks easier: Housework, mowing the lawn or carrying groceries takes less effort. Strong muscles mean you’re less likely to injure muscles, tendons or ligaments.

Talk to your doctor about appropriate strengthening exercises, especially if you have osteoporosis.

Acupuncture treats sports injuries

Highlight:
Recent studies suggest that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries like shin splints, tennis elbow, stress and neck pain.

• Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical therapy which works to encourage the body to heal itself.
• Acupuncture can be used in two ways to treat injuries, either by treating the injured area only, or by following the principles of traditional Chinese medicine where the patient's complete picture of health is taken into account.
• It works on the whole body, as following an acupuncture treatment a variety of substances are released including endorphins, serotonin, and neuropeptides/neurotransmitters to aid pain relief and relaxation.
• There is evidence that acupuncture can aid healing and resolution of injuries, including reducing pain, increasing local microcirculation and attracting white blood cells to the area, both of which speed the healing rate, and aid dispersal of swelling and bruising.
• One third of these injuries are serious enough to result in medical treatment or to affect normal day-to-day activities.
• Acupuncture is one treatment that is increasingly used by top sports players and athletes to treat musculoskeletal problems.
• Professional sports teams are also now offering acupuncture to their players both to treat an injury and to keep them performing at their peak.
• Many high profile teams have dedicated acupuncturists on board, including the British Rugby team, many Premiership football teams and the British Olympic team.
• Shin splints Athletes with shin splints were treated with either acupuncture alone, acupuncture and sports medicine or sports medicine.
• Tennis elbow Sufferers treated with acupuncture had significant reductions in pain and improvements in arm function in comparison to those treated with sham acupuncture.
• Neck pain New research has found that office workers who suffer from chronic neck and shoulder pain felt the benefits for 3 years following a course of acupuncture treatment.

Are Chiropractor Quacks?

These people can spend their money on the absolute finest healthcare available -- that's why they choose a Sports Chiropractor!

Lance Armstrong, 6-time Tour de France winner

One of the methods he uses to keep in peak performance is chiropractic care. According to Dr. Spencer, “My job with Lance and the team is to optimize the neuromusculoskeletal component of their training and, in the event of a crash, minimize down time and get them back in the race as quickly as possible. I adjust them as needed and guide them in choices of diet and supplements, which helps reduce the likelihood of injury.”



iger Woods

Golf great, Tiger Woods, is another example of what the benefits of chiropractic care can offer an athlete. Tiger Woods states, "lifting weights and seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis has made me a better golfer. I've been going to Chiropractors for as long as I can remember. It's as important to my training as practicing my swing.”

"Being a chiropractic patient has really helped me a lot," Tiger asserted . "When I was in a growth spurt, my back became very sore and I was weak. My chiropractor really helped me. Not only did he adjust my spine, he also gave me strengthening exercises to do. If you are tall and gangly, like I am, or play sports, I would recommend chiropractic."

oe Montana, Hall of Fame Quarterback and 4-time Super Bowl Champ

One of the most recognizable celebrity/athletes, holder of four Superbowl rings, three Superbowl MVP's and Player of the Year in 1990 has just agreed to become the spoke person for Chiropractic in the State of California. "Chiropractic care works for me.” states Joe, "I've been seeing a chiropractor and he's really been helping me out a lot. Chiropractic's been a big part of my game."

Joe Montana and 35 of his teammates received chiropractic care right before the 1990 Super Bowl Game.

Scales Are For Fish, Not For Weight Loss

Contrary to common belief, your weight is not really the indicator of a weight problem. The actual percentage of body fat is the true indicator. You need to know what percent of you is actually FAT. How are you going to monitor your weight loss if you do not know what percent of your body is fat before you begin your program?

Let me give you an example on measuring body fat, this is important in understanding weight loss, or should I say FAT LOSS. This is actually what we are trying to lose.

Lets say someone weighs 200 pounds and when we measure their body fat we find out there body fat is 40%. This means that 40% of the members body is made of fat (80 lbs). The other 120 lbs is muscle, bones, organs, water, etc. (everything but fat).

Any true weight loss program should include some form of strength training, customized to their personal abilities (another reason you need someone who truly understands the whole body and how it works). Because if you can gain some of that muscle mass that we lose with age, our bodies will burn more calories and therefore burn more fat.

Let's say it's few weeks into the program and this person steps on the scale and they now weigh 198 lbs. They are a little disappointed because they thought they were doing better. Their clothes fit better, they have more energy, and they are feeling better. But they are still depressed because they only lost a lousy 2 pounds.

We check their body fat and it is now 36% not 40%. Let's do a little math. 200 lbs at 40% body fat means that 40% of them is fat, which equals 80 lbs of FAT, and 120 lbs are muscles and everything else (called the lean body mass). 198 lbs at 36% body fat means that 36% of them is fat which equals 71 lbs of FAT, and 125 lbs of lean body mass.

This person actually lost 9 pounds of FAT (the stuff we are trying to lose) and gained 5 pounds of lean body mass (mostly muscle mass, which is a good thing because this will allow their body to burn more calories).

You need to measure and focus on PERCENT OF BODY FAT, AND NOT WEIGHT.

However, don't worry, when your body fat goes down, as your body fat decreases so will the numbers on the scale.

Spot Reduction Myth

Contrary to what the info commercials suggest, there is no such thing as spot reduction. Fat is lost throughout the body in a pattern dependent upon genetics, sex (hormones), and age.

Overall body fat must be reduced to lose fat in any particular area. Although fat is lost or gained throughout the body, it seems the last area to become lean or the first area to get fat is the midsection (in men and some women) and hips and thighs (in women and few men).

Sit-ups, crunches, leg-hip raises, leg raises, hip adduction, hip abduction, etc. will only exercise the muscles under the fat.

DHEA and Weight Loss

Testosterone and estrogen are not the only hormones implicated in weight gain. Low levels of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), a steroid hormone, have also been linked to increased weight gain. Virtually everyone over age 35 experiences a significant reduction in DHEA. Studies suggest that supplementing with DHEA produces beneficial body composition changes (Villareal et al 2000; Villareal et al 2004).

For example, a 6-month trial in aging men and women with low DHEA levels demonstrated that 50 mg of DHEA per day reversed age-related changes in fat mass (Villareal et al 2000).

Another study showed that DHEA decreased abdominal obesity and improved insulin action. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluated 50 mg of DHEA per day for 6 months in 56 individuals with age-related decline in DHEA levels. The study showed that DHEA was associated with significant decreases in visceral and subcutaneous fat and improved insulin sensitivity (Villareal et al 2004).

Note: In woman DHEA can convert to testosterone, which is acceptable as long as testosterone is kept within proper range.

7-keto DHEA. A metabolite of DHEA called 7-keto DHEA has also attracted considerable attention for its value as a fat-loss supplement. Like DHEA, 7-keto DHEA levels dramatically decline with age (Marenich 1979).

In animal studies, 7-keto DHEA boosted fat-burning enzymes (Bobyleva et al 1993; Bobyleva et al 1997). Studies using 7-keto DHEA supplements produced encouraging results. For example, researchers assessed the effects of taking 100 mg of 7-keto DHEA or placebo twice daily for 60 days. Compared with placebo, the 7-keto group lost more body weight (6.3 lb vs. 2.1 lb). This study also found that supplementing with 7-keto DHEA was associated with a significantly greater percentage of body fat loss compared with the placebo group (Kalman et al 2000).

Because of the fat burning, or thermogenic effects of 7-keto DHEA, simultaneous supplementation with antioxidants is recommended to help guard against excessive free radical production. Animal studies have shown that 7-keto DHEA is not converted into testosterone or estradiol (Lardy et al 1995). Unlike caffeine or ephedra, 7-keto DHEA does not have a noradrenaline-induced central nervous system stimulating effect, nor does 7-keto increase heart rate or blood pressure. (From LEF)

If you are exercising and eatting right, and still not losing weight. It might be time to have some blood testing done. The thing to remember here is.....

THERE ARE REFERENCES RANGES AND THERE ARE OPTIMAL RANGES

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) Sulfate, The blood Test

This test is used to determine female infertility, amenorrhea, or hirsutism and to aid in the evaluation of excess androgen/adrenocortical disease, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal tumors. Optimal ranges are from Life Extension Foundation.

Reference Ranges:
Men:
19–29 years	280–640 µg/dL
30–39 years:	120–520 µg/dL
40–49 years:	95–530 µg/dL
50–59 years:	70–310 µg/dL
60–69 years	42–290 µg/dL
>69 years	28–175 µg/dL
LE’s Optimal Range:	400–500 µg/dL
Women:
19–29 years:	65–380 µg/dL
30–39 years:	45–270 µg/dL
40–49 years	32–240 µg/dL
50–59 years	26–200 µg/dL
60–69 years	13–130 µg/dL
>69 years	17–90 µg/dL
LE’s Optimal Range:	350–430 µg/dL