Health

Is Fat-Fighter A Rip-Off?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 27, 1999 / 7:21 PM EDT / CBS

Federal regulators have been asked to investigate the latest hot product for baby boomers who want a quick fix to make them look and feel younger. This time, it's a pill that promises to melt away cellulite.

CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports that since its debut on the market last March, Cellasene has been an instant hit.

"Cellasene has been selling fantastically. It's been flying off the shelves," said Jessica Nall of a store called Cambridge Chemists.

Cellasene promises to eliminate cellulite, the visible fatty deposits that plague millions of women - even thin ones like Deborah Butero, who are taking it as part of a study.

"The skin on my thighs looks firmer and I've lost an inch in circumference on each thigh," Butero said.

Dermatologist Peter Pugliese, a consultant to the company that makes Cellasene, explains how it works: "Basically you are strengthening the connective tissue around the fat and getting back to normal shape."

But the supplement, a compound of herbal extracts and fish oil, is now the target of mounting criticism and a potential federal investigation for making promises it can't fulfill.

Dr. Louis Aronne is an expert on obesity.

"The best way to characterize Cellasene is that it's bogus. There is no evidence that this product works," Aronne said.

The manufacturer, Rexall Sundown, issued a statement saying: "The company ... is confident that our products are in full compliance with all applicable rules and regulations."

It cites two studies on Cellasene completed in Italy, but critics say the studies were bad science. The makers of Cellasene have promised a bigger study. But by then, critics say, women will have spent millions on the company's first promise: thinner thighs.