Better evidence needed for weight loss products
The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s draft guidelines on weight loss medicines need to be much stronger if they are to protect consumers from false advertising.
Executive Director of the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF), Carol Bennett, said the guidelines must require companies to provide better evidence.
‘If a claim is made about a weight loss product, the public need to feel confident the company has been required to provide proof to support that claim,’ Bennett said.
‘Health consumers are increasingly concerned about the lack of regulation of the complementary medicines industry. Is it too much to expect consumers to have access to reliable, evidence-based information about complementary medicines, including weight loss products?
‘Ideally, complementary medicines should require the same levels of evidence as prescription medicines, and have the same restrictions on promotion. Otherwise, stronger guidelines on the acceptable forms of evidence are needed.
‘In terms of quality of evidence, consumers want more transparency around publishing the funding sources and affiliations of authors of reports. This will help avoid conflicts of interest and potential bias from weight-loss and complementary medicine companies with a commercial interest in the medicine.
‘Consumer experience should be an essential part of each medicine’s evidence base, and consumers want a register of consumer experiences on the use of weight loss medicines.’
TGA must check claims
‘The TGA should check the evidence for any claims of efficacy before the product is listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). This requirement alone would significantly reduce inflated advertising claims’ Bennett said.
Under the proposed guidelines, companies would be able to promote their products using labels with alluring, clearly promotional names that may bear no relationship to the products’ efficacy.
The guidelines should require manufacturers to be more explicit on the labels.
‘Labels to say the medicines are not instant miracle cures, but one component of a lifestyle approach to weight loss. People need to consider their overall health status and seek expert advice before use. Unless the medicines’ efficacy has been established in populations with obesity, the labels should not make claims of weight loss for obese people,’ Bennett said.
