In yet another trial called the Weight Watchers program meetings and a calorie-controlled diet were tried on half of 772 people (mostly women) from UK, Australia, and Germany. The average weight loss of people taking part was 4 kilograms (8.9 pounds), compared with 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) for people who got standard care from a GP..

Do supplements really make you lose weight?

There were two other studies that looked into common weight loss supplements and their efficacies. These were also presented at the Stockholm Congress. One study checked up guar gum, chromium picolinate, Ephedra spp. (known in Chinese medicine as ma huang, and sometimes called Mormon tea), Citrus aurantium (bitter orange), conjugated linoleic acid, calcium, glucomannan, chitosan, and Camellia sinensis (green tea). No real effect on weight was found on consumption of these preparations. The second study analyzed nine weight loss products from pharmacies in Germany including polyglucosamine, cabbage powder, konjak extract, sodium alginate- complex, bean concentrate, selected plant extracts, L-carnitine, fibre supplements, and guarana seed powder. No efficacy was noted here too. Judith Stern, a professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Internal Medicine at the University of California Davis said, slimming supplements do not work and so save your money, the only thing you are going to lose is your money.

At the congress there was a unanimous agreement that healthy and nutrition diet, small portions, appropriate labeling of foods regarding calorie counts, restricted salt, sugars and tans fats in foods could be the actual ways to curb obesity. Bruce Silverglade of the International Association of Consumer food organizations (IACFO), an association of non-governmental organizations summed up the proceedings effectively saying, We need a cultural change.