05-14-2009, 10:13 AM
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#8 (permalink)
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The sky calls to us ...
Super Moderator
Location: CT
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Whenever I come across something touting a questionable health benefit, Quackwatch is my first stop. Here are some excerpts from an article on Acai.
Consumers Warned of Web-Based Aai Scams
Quote:
Açai began attracting attention in 2005 on the belief that its juice was especially high in antioxidants. In truth, açai juice has only middling levels of antioxidants—less than that of Concord grape, blueberry, and black cherry juices, but more than cranberry, orange, and apple juices. Even so, the extent to which antioxidants by themselves promote health is a matter of some debate. No credible evidence suggests antioxidants promote weight loss.
In early 2008, Açai got a jolt of publicity when Mehmet Oz, M.D., included açai among tomatoes, blueberries, broccoli, and other healthy foods in a segment on Oprah. A guest on Rachael Ray also discussed an açai beverage. Since then, ads on Google, Facebook, and major news media web sites have misleadingly steered consumers to sites with names like Oprah-best-acai.com , OprahsAmazingDiet.com, DrOzMiracle.com, rachaelray.drozdiet-acaiberry.com and dozens of others. OprahsAmazingDiet.com links to a blog post by a woman who supposedly lost 57 pounds using Oprah-endorsed products, and displays authoritative-looking biographies of Oprah and Dr. Oz. It then links to an offer for AcaiBurn, sold by a company that lists an address in Cyprus as its headquarters. Other sites link to FWM Laboratories of Ft. Lauderdale and Hollywood, Fla., which has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau and scores of horror stories about it on Internet complaint forms. Oprah Winfrey, Mehmet Oz, and Rachael Ray have all publicly disassociated themselves from the açai sites that make unauthorized use their names.
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FWM Laboratories, Advanced Wellness Research, and other acai companies benefit from dozens of fake diet blogs that steer unsuspecting consumers to sites plugging free açai trials. The woman depicted on Tara's Diet Blog, Olivia's Weight Loss blog, Alicia's Diet Blog, Becky's Weight Loss blog, and at least 75 other blogs is a German model named Julia who has nothing to do with acai or any weight-loss product. The German photographer who made the original photos of her available on Istockphoto.com said the pill companies manipulated some of the "after" images to give the impression of weight loss. The fake blogs were first uncovered by a real blog, wafflesatnoon.com, written by an ad-industry insider.
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One of several online purchases of açai attempted by CSPI was blocked when the fraud department of the credit card’s issuing bank called the group, flagging the charge as suspicious. The reason? The funds would have been routed to an overseas bank.
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