万花筒 2008-05-07&05-08

I like to eat so I could just see my stomach get a little more training. Raheem Babalola is a model and actor who says he popped this pill for the last 4 months and lost about 10 pounds without changing his diet or exercise habits.

 It’s keeping those cells those fat, those new fat cells from coming sit in those areas. It's attacking them, it's saying,  you know what, no, you can’t stay here. You gotta go.

 Raheem  is talking about a new supplement claiming to be the newest fat fighting breakthrough. It’s called DEX-C20 and the label says it contains Caralluma Fimbriata a cactus¹ plant found in India. It’s supposed to give you energy, help you burn calories and reduce your appetite.

 I look at this product is what I call a kick-start and a maintenance balancer.

 Dr. Richard Goldfarb is a researcher who is paid by the makers² of DEX-C20 to conduct a pilot study of the product.

 Weight loss varied³ from as little as five pounds up to 13 pounds in this 30- day period. But everybody on the study had weight loss.

 But his very small study involved only 10 patients and no control group. Yet the conclusion surprisingly states quote “we recommend DEX-C20 as a primary product in the fight against obesity⁴.” It’s a recommendation that some experts say goes way too far.

 I probably made a strong statement but again a lot of it has to do with my own personal bias⁵ too because I took it and lost, you know, 10 probably up to 12 pounds. So perhaps….

 But you can't make a statement like that with, based on personal bias.

 No, I didn’t, but I’m saying what did influence is the fact that, we were ten for ten. Nobody had any major side effects.

 The bigger issue here is that dietary supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. This means the makers don`t even have to study the product or prove that it really works, and you have no way of knowing what`s really inside the capsule.

 The studies do not support weight loss with these products.

 Dr. Tod Cooperman is the president of Consumerlab.com, a company that independently tests ingredients in nutritional⁶ supplements. He says DEX-C20 raises a lot of questions.

 Our belief is that the marker compounds have not yet been identified for this particular form of Caralluma. So it`ll be very difficult though not impossible to know for sure if it’s really in there.  

 And when it comes to what’s really inside any supplement. Dr. Cooperman says you can’t always trust the label. His lab tested more than 2000 products over the last decade and found a problem with one out of every four.

 Most often it doesn’t contain all the active ingredient that it claims. You really don’t know what’s inside the bottle unless you can go and test it, so it’s a buyer-beware situation.

 I` d love to be able to report there`s a silver bullet out there, that`s gonna make you lose weight, but for now most experts agree the marketing⁷ is way ahead of this science. The makers of DEX-C20, by the way, say they have already started allergy⁸ study.

 I'm Doctor Sapna Parikh, Fox 5 News.

1 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

7 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

8 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。