title: [Abuse concerning the nature and the commercialization of weight-loss products].
abstract: Produces and products for slimming cures are extremely diversified, most of them being used per os. Among them, bulk materials (hydrocolloids, gums) that can reduce the food consumption must be distinguished from a profusion of substances with varied origin and nature whose efficiency and inocuousness often remain undertermined. Some commercial proposals are real untrue advertising. For example, the papain that is a proteolytic enzyme or the vitamin B6 that enables the aminoacid metabolism and the elongation of essential fatty acids. The bean husks are a particular case, they contain starch-blockers able to reduce the in vitro hydrolysis of carbohydrates. Meanwhile, they have no action on the calorie potential provided by the lipids, the alcohol, etc. More these anti-amylases are revealed ineffective under the conditions of digestion; their use in slimming cures is an abuse, opposite our actual knowledges. The homeopathic pharmaceuticals can be ranged in the same category. Their efficiency is not scientifically proved. The most of these substances transit through commercial networks that are hardly identified; more their run lasts only a few months and they are quickly renewed. They constitute an economical sector probably important and, in practice, escaping the elementary medical and regular checkings. An increased watching should be set up in order to reorganize the actual situation.
authors.affiliation: Chaire de Biochimie industrielle et agro-alimentaire, Paris.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adrian
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D005526:Food, Formulated; D015431:Weight Loss
vernacular_title: Abus concernant la nature et la commercialisation des produits destinés à l'amaigrissement.