| Posted 19 April 2023 CoolSculpting is among the most popular fixes for unwanted bulges. But the risk of a serious side effect appears to be higher than previously known. More than a dozen years ago, a medical device hit the market with a tantalizing promise: It could freeze away stubborn pockets of fat quickly, painlessly and without surgery. The device, called CoolSculpting, was entering an already-crowded beauty industry selling flatter stomachs and tauter jaw lines, but it had an advantage: a vaunted scientific pedigree. The research behind its development came from a lab at Harvard Medical School’s primary teaching hospital, a detail noted routinely in news features and talk show segments. The pitch worked. CoolSculpting machines are now common in dermatology and plastic surgery offices and medical spas, and the technology has generated more than $2 billion in revenue. Cryolipolysis, the … Read the rest Posted 12 July 2021 An UK TV ad for Slendertone, a toning belt, seen in January and February 2019. A voice-over stated, “Meet Slendertone, your personal body toner, who firms and tones your abs, helps shape your waistline and easily fits in with your lifestyle. Clinically proven with results from four weeks. Look and feel amazing.” This product is similar to the advert shown on DSTV for Neotex Hot Belt. The UK ASA concluded: “We concluded that the impression given by the ad, that the product was able to affect the size of the waist by visibly firming and toning the abdominal muscles, had not been substantiated and that the ad was therefore misleading.” ASA Ruling on Bio-Medical Research Ltd t/a SlendertoneBackgroundSummary of Council decision: Two issues were investigated, one of which was Upheld. The other was informally resolved after the advertiser agreed to … Read the rest Posted 11 November 2020 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is sending 70,142 checks and PayPal payments totaling $3,864,824 to consumers nationwide who bought Quell, a wearable device claimed to treat chronic pain throughout the body when placed below the knee.
Reference: FTC refunds almost $3.9 million to purchasers of deceptively advertised Quell wearable pain-relief device. FTC press release, Sept 8, 2020 Massachusetts-based NeuroMetrix, Inc. and its CEO, Shai Gozani, touted Quell—a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device—as “clinically proven” and “FDA cleared” for widespread chronic pain relief, but the FTC charged that the marketers lacked scientific evidence to support chronic pain-relief claims, and their claims about clinical proof and the scope of FDA clearance for this use were false. Under an order settling the FTC’s charges, NeuroMetrix, Inc. and its CEO agreed to to stop making such claims and to pay $4 million to the … Read the rest Posted 14 September 2020 Blue light from our electronics is said to be harmful, and “blue blocking” glasses are touted as a panacea to numerous health issues. Is there any evidence to substantiate these claims? Like a lot of people, I’ve been spending a lot more time staring at a computer screen lately. I have been working from home since March, and what used to be face-to-face meetings are now Zoom/Teams/GoToMeeting video calls. With videoconferences and related work, I’m easily spending several more hours per week staring at a computer screen. Afternoon headaches became a common occurrence shortly after this started, which I attributed to screen time and poor ergonomics. School for both of my kids has been transformed to an online environment too, with even more hours per day (above the baseline) spent staring at electronic devices. Recently my daughter told me she … Read the rest Posted 14 September 2020 13 SEPTEMBER 2020 Health products, like detox teas and mood-boosting waters, rely on a lack of neuroscientific knowledge to make their claims. Some of these claims are unsubstantiated, while others are completely made up. My doctoral research investigates visual processing, but when I look at the big picture, I realize that what I’m really studying are fundamental aspects of brain anatomy, connectivity and communication. One specific function of the visual system that I have studied during my degree is the blue-light detecting molecule, melanopsin. In humans, melanopsin is seemingly restricted to a group of neurons in the eye, which preferentially target a structure in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus — the body’s clock. Circadian rhythmsThis is where the (true) idea that blue light affects our sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm originates from. And also why many corrective lens … Read the rest Posted 26 August 2019 For the attention of healthcare practitioners & other healthcare stakeholders SAMED’s ability to enforce the Medical Device Code and contribute to raising the levels of ethics in the South African medical technology sector entered a new era on 15 August 2019. This is when its anonymous whistle-blowing hotline for reporting contraventions of the Medical Device Code of Ethical Marketing and Business Practice became operational. SAMED has decided to add to its complaint-lodging approach and allow for anonymous complaints – through an independently managed service – in order to overcome concerns that many potential whistle-blowers, including healthcare professionals, have due to fears of damaging relationships with colleagues, suppliers and other industry role-players, or of risking a disciplinary procedure or dismissal. Known as the Medical Device Code ethics hotline, the mechanism is part of Deloitte’s global service which the company introduced in 1999 and which is ISO certified … Read the rest Posted 18 August 2019 In May 2019, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA – Australia) commenced work on a sector-wide compliance activity relating to the advertising of ‘bioresonance’ devices, which are sometimes mistakenly promoted as ‘biofeedback’ devices. This sector has been identified as having a high rate of advertising non-compliance, with widespread advertising. The advertising of bioresonance has been the subject of previous regulatory compliance actions. (Editor: Beamer, Scio and Quantum SCIO-EPFX devices are included in this category) Bioresonance is based on the belief that human beings emit electromagnetic waves, which can only be measured by bioresonance devices. Advertisers claim these devices can measure these waves to detect illness in the human body as well as sending ‘rehabilitated bad’ waves to the patient to alleviate illness. The TGA is currently investigating the scientific credibility relating to the diagnostic and therapeutic use of these devices. The TGA is also working … Read the rest Posted 28 August 2018  The Health Coach Academy is advertising “Intolerance, Deficiency and Toxicity Testing” claiming to be effective in solving “undetected food or environmental sensitivity and intolerance, a vitamin or mineral deficiency or metal toxicity”.
The website claims that that identification of these are via “intolerance, deficiency & toxicity tests performed via hair analysis using bio-resonance technology“. Only one big problem – there is no evidence that these tests are useful at all. In fact, there is evidence that they are useless. Read more on the quackery of bioresonance here Beware, avoid. Mary Comerce is the Founder/Director/Health Coach of the company and I am not able to find evidence of medical related training. … Read the rest Posted 02 August 2018  Quantum Logic’s website promotes a number of health modalities. Two in particular caught our interest: Dark Field Blood Analysis and Quantum Biofeedback food stress test.
Owner, Chris de Beer “recommends a Dark Field Blood Analysis and Quantum Biofeedback food stress test as the first sensible step towards a 100% personalised diet, long term eating plan – determining which foods cause positive or negative reactions for you – and an exercise regime. During the Dark Field Blood Analysis you will see a live drop of your blood magnified by a microscope on a computer screen; watch the activities, condition, and number of red as well as white blood cells; see what your cholesterol situation is; and whether there are parasites lurking in your blood – the carrier of all nutritional and other matter to every nook and cranny of your body”. Both these tests are unproven, unsubstantiated, … Read the rest Posted 30 July 2018 Advertising watchdog launches formal investigation over description of product Maev Kennedy Sun 29 Jul 2018 The Guardian The Advertising Standards Authority has launched a formal investigation into marketing for a Swedish app that claims to be an effective method of contraception, after reports that women have become pregnant while using it. An ASA spokesman said it had received three complaints about Natural Cycles and its paid advertising on Facebook, which describes the app as highly accurate contraception that has been clinically tested. “We would require robust substantiation from any company to support such a claim,” he said. … Read the rest | |
