FTC Challenges Diet Pill Makers For Falsely Claiming They 'Reduce Belly Fat'

This Baltimore, MD-based WBAL-TV story says the makers of two popular diet pills that allegedly help you "lose belly fat" without exercise are under legal fire with the Federal Trade Commission for making false claims about their products.

You've seen the commercials by companies called Relacore and Cortislim. They have been aggressively marketed to help people control the creation of Cortisol, which is the so-called enemy in the fight against belly fat.

With a recent study showing how significant excessive body in the midsection makes you much more likely to have heart disease, products like these that can supposedly "reduce Cortisol" and "burn belly fat" are all that more relevant.

But do they work?

Relacore claims you "need" their product and that it actually "works well with low-carb diets" (although I never have understood HOW it does that actually!).

"Why did your last diet fail?" asks Relacore in their television ad. "Stress increases Cortisol. Cortisol causes belly fat. Relacore reduces Cortisol. You need Relacore."

But medical professionals say there is no evidence to support the claim that Cortisol creates more belly fat.

Then there's Cortislim whose commercials state similar claims about belly fat, too.

"No amount of exercise, no amount of diet is going to get rid of that. You need the Cortisol control and Cortislim brings that," the ad proclaimed.

But that didn't sit too well with the FTC who has since said those claims are blatantly false and purposefully deceptive.

"In the infomercial, Cortislim made claims such as lose 10 to 50 pounds, virtually for all users, lose it quickly and easily. They said that their claims for substantial weight loss were backed by 15 years of science," said Heather Hippsley from the FTC. "The FTC has charged in its complaint that none of these claims were true" and that they are deceptive."

The defendants settled in the case and have been ordered to pay $4.5 million in cash and assets as well as stop using the claim that their product reduces belly fat. Other defendants in the case against Cortislim are still pending settlement negotiations.

Warning letters have been sent to another 25 other companies informing them that they are in danger of false advertisement if they do not stop using the false claims immediately.

But Relacore is not taking that warning sitting down.

They stand behind their product as a way to reduce Cortisol production and, thus, reduce belly fat. They cite independent health studies that back them up. In fact, a countersuit against the FTC is underway by Cortisol. They believe their product will help reduce stress which limits Cortisol production and then causes body fat in the tummy to shrink.

This is all well and good that yet another diet pill (and more are on the way!) is being challenged for giving people false hope about weight loss. As I have stated previously, changes that need to be made do not begin with taking a pill. Real lifestyle changes have to occur for realistic physical changes to be seen.

While I don't have any evidence that shows these products don't work, all I know is you don't need a pill that reduces Cortisol to reduce your belly fat. Livin' la vida low-carb does the trick quite nicely thank you very much. How else can you explain my body fat percentage being as low as it is.

We haven't seen the last of these weight loss pill ad claims. Just watch how they try to wiggle their way out of the next challenge by the FTC!