It's a fact that Americans spend a huge amount of money on appetite suppressants, herbal products and dietary supplements every year. And many of the consumers who purchase these products do not know that makers of the products are not required by the FDA to submit safety or efficacy studies, or to supply warnings about potential side effects.

According to a recent Harris interactive study, 52 percent of Americans plan to lose weight in 2008 and about 18 million will rely on products that have not been approved by the FDA. Companies that offer "quick weight loss" products are keying up their marketing efforts claiming that their products work and weight loss is a 'given'.

The Harris survey of 2,058 adults claims that three in five (58 percent) think these products are somewhat effective, one-third (37 percent) believe they are approved for safety and effectiveness by the FDA before being sold, and two in five (44 percent) mistakenly believe that the government requires warnings about potential side effects on the labels.

Consumers would be wise to remember that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Losing weight is a life-style change requiring lots of hard work. If it were easy, we would all be thin! That's why companies that manufacture weight loss products love to entice potential buyers with tags like, "you will loss 10 pounds in 10 days," etc. What they don't tell you is that because there is no government regulation of these products, there is also no guarantee of purity or dosage meaning. Ingredients may have biological activity, but not knowing the amount taken into the body can put a person's health at risk. Product purity is another problem. When producing diet pills, there can be many contaminants in the product that can damage health.

The secret to healthy dieting and weight loss is simple -- eat less and exercise more. The hard part for many is following this simple plan.

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