In the US alone, the weight loss industry is worth an
estimated $50 billion – that’s 50 times the amount of money the United Nations
spends on hunger and famine relief around the world and more than the gross
national product of many countries. Sales of retail and multi-level meal
replacements and appetite suppressants alone are around $2 billion a year.
One survey found 62 percent of adults are dieting and 18
percent are constantly on a diet. And in spite of all this effort, and these
weight loss products, health club memberships, diet pills and potions, tummy
tucks and stomach staplings, books and tapes, the number of people declared to
be obese is increasing.
The National Institutes of Health and other studies show that
98 percent of people who lose weight gain it back within five years. And 90
percent of those gain back more weight than they lost. The failure of weight
loss programs is so great that a leading researcher has said, “Dieting is the
leading cause of obesity in the US.”
It could also be dangerous to your health, as an increasing
number of health dangers are being associated with use of diet drugs (the now
withdrawn combination of phentermine and fenfluramine “phenfen” – and the even
more controversial use of phentermine and prozac being two examples). Yet hungry
for the profits resulting from a prosperous but aging population . . .
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Wendy Priesnitz is the Editor of
Natural Life Magazine and a journalist with 30 years of experience.
She has also authored nine
books. Read her
blog.