Nutrition Unplugged

I’m glad to see that the courts agree with me. Sensa Products, LLC and its parent corporation Intelligent Beauty Inc. has agreed to pay more than $900,000 to settle a false advertising lawsuit. This lawsuit was filed in Santa Cruz County by nine California district attorneys for the Counties of Santa Cruz, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said the lawsuit was necessary because the federal government does not regulate the dietary supplement market.

“Unlike prescription medication, dietary supplements do not need to be pre-approved by the FDA before they can be sold to consumers. A dietary supplement can be sold in the United States without prior government approval or proof that it is either safe or effective for its intended use.”

Sensa became the subject of a Statewide Nutritional Supplement Task Force investigation after it made claims that its weight loss effects had been clinically proven in the “largest clinical study” ever conducted, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. An independent expert concluded that the study did not meet scientific or competency standards. As part of the settlement, Sensa and Intelligent Beauty are permanently prohibited from making claims about the effectiveness of their product without first having verifiable, reliable scientific evidence.

The companies are also forbidden from continuing to charge customers for shipments they sent customers who had requested that their orders be cancelled and from enrolling customers in an automatic shipping program without letting customers know about their obligations to the program.

I’ve been warning against this “sprinkle diet” for quite awhile:

Sensa Diet Smells Fishy to Me

Sensa Diet (Still) Smells Fishy to Me

I certainly hope we’ll see fewer commercials for Sensa, especially like this one with the dancing women in white bikinis.

Maybe we’ll finally see people come to their senses about Sensa. Will this help? I’m not sure.

Dr. Oz recently addressed the Sensa debate on his show: Sensa- Sensation or Senseless? And I was glad to see him give Louis Aronne, MD and registered dietitian Kristin Kirkpatrick an opportunity to challenge some of the claims. But I’m afraid it also gave Dr. Alan Hirsch a national platform to make his pitch. Did the voice of reason win out or was Dr. Hirsch more convincing? What do you think?

image courtesy of Bartzib on flickr

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Tagged as: Sensa Diet, Sensa lawsuit

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I wrote about these “diet sprinkles” over a year ago, but I thought it was a topic worth revisiting.

I happened to catch a Sensa infomerical on late night TV recently and I couldn’t believe the program was still around — and seemingly going strong. I don’t blame people for getting swept away by the dramatic weight loss claims. The testimonials are rather convincing: simply sprinkle the flavor-enhancing crystals on everything you eat, sniff it before eating and the pounds will melt away.

But I sure hope you’ll save your money.

Before you’re tempted to buy Sensa, please read my original post:

Sensa Diet Smells Fishy to Me

And take a look at what others had to say about Sensa and the claims made by “Dr. Smell,” the creator Alan Hirsch. What’s really incredible to me is what Hirsch told ABC after being pressed. For his so-called clinical study (which has never been published) there actually wasn’t a control group that used fake sprinkles to compare with the group that used Sensa (and experienced this dramatic, self-reported weight loss). He said the promotional company made that up for the video. “Obviously a misunderstanding,” Hirsch admitted.

Enough said.

WebMD – The Truth About Sensa
ABC News – Eat Ice Cream, Burgers and Pizza and Still Lose Weight?
The Fit Shack – Sensa: 5 Reasons It Won’t Work
Henry the Health Hound – My Investigation on Sensa for Weight Loss