Herbal Magic - not so "magical"

CBC's Marketplace did a special report on the diet franchise "Herbal Magic" this past Friday evening. It was a very interesting look into the shady business of a weight loss program that is built around its line of supplements.

Long story short - Herbal Magic's clients often spend upwards of $5000 - $8000 for a "Program" consisting of a starvation diet and useless supplements. Their "Personal Health Consultants" are sales people working for commission, and have no training in any aspect of health whatsoever. They make their money by selling you supplements, and will often tell you anything to make a sale, even going so far as to show potential clients pictures of themselves at a heavier body weight, and claim they lost the weight with HM, even if they didn't.

Although HM claims it's supplements do a world of "magic":

"Regulates blood sugar and insulin levels resulting in reduced appetite and sugar cravings"

"stabilizes body weight, supporting long-term weight loss maintenance. It improves metabolism, decreases appetite, and increases energy levels."

"increases energy levels and inhibits the formation of fat".

Health Canada now regulates these types of products, and states: "The issuance of a product licence means that the product has been assessed by Health Canada and has been found to be safe, effective and of high quality under its recommended conditions of use. Stakeholders can identify licensed natural health products by looking for the eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) or Homeopathic Medicine Number (DIN-HM) designation on the label."

However, very few of HM's products have NPN or DIN numbers. And those that have been approved, have not been approved for the claims HM makes above.

Contrary to popular belief, "natural" health products are not safe just because they are "natural". Unregulated products may have any number of ingredients that are dangerous to health, such as this recall for Natural Choice Vitamin B-17, that was found to "contain amygdalin which is a compound derived from bitter apricot kernels that has the potential to release cyanide when ingested by humans". Another of their products was found to potentially cause liver dysfunction.

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff from Weightymatters.ca was featured on the show. He points out - "if there were magic in weight loss, everyone would be skinny and someone would be very, very rich". Unfortunately, these programs do make some people very rich, but very few people reach and maintain their body weight.

Anyone who follows the HM program properly will definitely lose weight because they are on a strict starvation diet (about 900 Calories!! for a woman). The supplements probably don't really do much of anything but eat away at your paycheque. Personally, I immediately disregard anything with the word "magic" in it's title that claims to be a legitimate product. Seriously.

If you missed the show, check it out here.

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