“Truth In Advertising”
In a way… From GlaxoSmithKline’s site for Alli:
break a bad pattern of eating
alli helps you change your approach to food by teaching you to recognize emotional eating and dismantle your external hunger triggers. With the alli plan, you’ll learn how to control your cravings and still enjoy the foods you love. You’ll establish a healthier approach to food.
As Douglas Farrago, MD of the Placebo Journal put it:
The new slogan for the Alli diet plan goes like:
It’s called mindless eating. See how you can control it with Alli.For those that don’t know how the drug works (fat absorption), if you are not mindful and overdo the fat in your diet you will, well, smudge yourself. So I guess this truly is a truth in advertising. Be mindful of what you eat or the next time you reach for the pork chops across the table it may look like you sat on a brownie when you change your draws later on. Okay, I think Larry the Cable Guy came up with that joke first.
Yeah, I guess the threat of “anal leakage*” will teach you to “dismantle your external hunger triggers” and “control your cravings” pretty quickly. But – at least in my mind – this isn’t exactly an ideal approach to the problem.
(h/t Placebo Journal Blog)
*GlaxoSmithKline delicately refers to this as a “treatment effect” on their consumer site.
February 10, 2010
“Truth In Advertising” – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
February 10, 2010
I have heard of similar tactics for I think it was meth abusers in rehab clinics…mixing the drug with something that will make you vomit violently so that you will associate the two feelings together. I have to say that if I have food poisoning from a milkshake, I won’t want to eat anything white for like a month.
Speaking of GSK, I remember hearing some time ago that they, along with some other members of big pharma, were forming partnerships with nonprofits to produce drugs treating third world diseases not affecting the industrialized west – the former having the economies of scale and the latter having the grassroots connection. It was probably partly related to the heat big pharma was deservedly getting for a variety of well publicized scandals. Whatever the reasons, it was good to hear about the good work being done.
http://www.thecro.com/files/CRO100BestCorporateCitizensList2009.pdf
I don’t see GSK in the list this year though a surprising number of it’s competitors are. I vaguely remember them being in there before though I may be mistaken.
February 11, 2010
“Anal Leakage” boy that would make my day.