Health food shop supplements to cut weight loss have no benefits, a major international conference was told yesterday.
The findings show there are "no quick fixes" for shedding weight, British experts said.
Two analyses were reported to the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Sweden.
German researchers told how they tested a total of nine health food shop products on 189 overweight volunteers.
Participants received either a genuine product or a fake, placebo, pill.
The study showed that people taking placebos lost some 1.2 kg – about 2.5 lbs – while those taking supplements lost between 1 or 2 kg.
Dr Thomas Ellrott, of the University of Göttingen Medical School, Germany, said: "There are scores of slimming supplements out there claiming weight-loss effects through all sorts of mechanisms of action. We have so-called fat magnets, mobilisers and dissolvers, as well as appetite tamers, metabolism boosters, carb blockers and so on.
"The market for these is huge, but unlike for regulated drugs, effectiveness does not have to be proven for these to be sold."
Dr Igho Onakpoya, of Peninsula Medical School, Devon, UK, reported an analysis of earlier medical studies of weight loss supplements, such as chromium picolinate, Ephedra, bitter orange, conjugated linoleic acid, calcium, guar gum, glucomannan, chitosan and green tea.
Dr Onakpoya, who is funded by a pharmaceutical company that makes a weight loss drug, said: "We found no evidence that any of these food supplements studied is an adequate treatment for reducing body weight.
"People think these supplements are a short cut to weight loss and may spend huge sums of money on them, but they may end up disappointed, frustrated and depressed if their weight expectations are not met in the long term."
Dietician Victoria Taylor, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "There are no quick fixes when it comes to weight loss. To reduce weight we need to be using up more energy than we are taking in and to achieve this we have to make changes to what we eat and how much activity we do.
"A huge amount of money is spent on the dieting industry, but it’s often money down the drain. Small, sustainable changes to diet and physical activity are likely to be the most effective approach to keeping weight off in the long term – and it needn’t cost you a penny."
* An "anti-cannabis" drug may become a successful treatment for obesity, researchers reported.
The new drug is the second generation of its kind, aimed at eliminating the side-effects of the first anti-cannabis drugs.
Details of the latest research were reported to the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Sweden.
The first drug of this kind, rimonabant, was withdrawn after it was found to have damaging effects on the mental health of patients.
The drugs interfere with the systems in the body that would normally respond to cannabis – penetrating deep into the brain – and are known as CB1 receptor blockers. They are thought to work against addiction and may prevent cravings for food.
Researchers said studies on laboratory rats of new versions of the drug suggested it might not have the same psychiatric effects – whilst encouraging weight loss.
Christian Elling, of the drug’s Danish developers, said: "These findings, together with what we have seen in our first human study regarding the safety and tolerability, make this drug candidate a promising therapy for obesity and diabetes.
"The lack of significant exposure in the brain seen in our preclinical experiments provides optimism that blockade of the CB1 receptor may still be an effective and safe approach to treat obesity and related diseases."
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