Young, Overweight Fall Prey to Weight-Loss Spam – Yahoo! News
TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) — Many computer users lunge for
the delete key when they get unsolicited e-mails about weight-loss
products. But some respond, and new research suggests that almost one in
five young, overweight people have fallen prey to the hard sell that shows
up in their spam.
“Believe it or not, a whole bunch of them not only read it, but
actually buy these products, which can range from the potentially harmless
to the potentially harmful,” said study author Joshua Fogel, of Brooklyn
College of the City University of New York. “I was shocked. I didn't
expect so many people to be buying this stuff.”
In May 2007, Fogel and a colleague surveyed 200 students from an
undergraduate commuter college in New York City. They report their
findings in the January issue of the Southern Medical Journal.
Eighty-eight percent of those with weight problems reported receiving
spam that pitched weight-loss products or schemes, compared to 73 percent
of other students. Fogel said this may be because the overweight students
visit Web sites about weight loss and end up on marketing databases.
About 42 percent of overweight students said they'd opened the spam
e-mails, and more than 18 percent said they'd bought products advertised
in them. (The numbers were 18.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively, for
the non-overweight students.)
Stress also seemed to play a role in boosting the risk that an
overweight person would buy the products, said Fogel, who is an associate
professor of behavioral sciences.
This makes sense to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian and author in
New York City. “If a person is struggling with their weight, not feeling
good about themselves and feeling overwhelmed, the promise of quick-fix
weight loss can be very compelling,” she said. “I've had clients buy
products they know seem bogus because they think, 'What do I have to lose'
or 'Who knows, maybe it'll work.'”
But there's plenty of risk. Weight-loss dietary supplements can be
dangerous, Sass said. “Consumers should know that these products are not
required to be proven safe or effective before they're released to the
market and they may contain ingredients — even natural ones — that can
raise blood pressure to dangerous levels, even in healthy, young adults,
or cause other side effects such as heart palpitations,” she
explained.
Detoxification products can also spell trouble by causing suppressed
immunity and a loss of muscle mass along with fatigue, irritability and
mood swings, she said.
The next step, Fogel said, is to figure out what overweight people are
buying from spam distributors and whether they're using the products
regularly.
He suggested that doctors take time to ask overweight patients if
they're buying weight-loss products. “If they say they don't buy it,
that's fine, and you go on to the next question. If they do, you can ask,
'Can you share what you bought and why you bought it?'”
More information
MedlinePlus has more on weight control.
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