
Americans spend more than $62 billion each year on pills and diet plans that claim to melt the pounds away – but those promises aren’t guaranteed to work. Most diet pills haven’t even been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe for weight loss. Diet pill makers often claim their products have science behind them when they don’t, experts told USAToday.
Many Americans might be surprised to learn that diet pills don’t have to be registered with the FDA before they are sold. The FDA investigates only if the pills are proven to cause harm, experts say.
So many new diet pills hit the market each year that the FDA can’t keep up with its own list of manufacturers that make false and misleading claims or its list of “tainted” weight-loss supplements, USAToday reported.