A Tool to Separate the Wheat from the Chaff

1. A Tool to Separate the Wheat from the Chaff The Voluntary Guidelines for Providers of Weight Loss Products or Services

3. Mission To promote sound guidance to the general public on strategies for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

4. Partnership Principles • Sensible and healthy guidelines • Obesity is a serious disease with far-reaching health implications • Excess weight is caused by a complex set of factors, and must be approached as such • Sedentary lifestyle is a barrier to healthy weight management

5. Partnership Principles (cont’d) • Calorie balance (calories in versus out) • Modest weight loss can reduce severity of illness • Weight management involves lifetime behavior modification • Medical, pharmacological, and surgical interventions may be appropriate for some seriously obese individuals

6. Partnership Principles (cont’d) • Consumers are entitled to accurate, reliable, and non-deceptive information about weight management methods • The Partnership opposes discrimination, including that based on size or weight • The Partnership does not endorse any particular products or programs

7. Partnership Materials

8. Purpose To encourage any provider of weight management services or products to provide accurate, objective information to consumers so that consumers can select a safe and effective method.

9. Value of Guidelines to Providers • Good business practice • Increase trust of consumers/users • Improve quality of care/treatment

10. Subscribing to the Guidelines is strictly voluntary

11. Who Provides the Guidelines? • Commercial weight loss programs • Manufacturers of weight loss products and medications • Health professional associations • Individual professionals

12. Extending the Message • Print media • Broadcast media • Advertising agencies • Public relations agencies • Other groups