If you watch cable TV or surf the Internet, there's a good chance you've seen the ads for CortiSlim and products like it. Some of these supplements make bold promises; they claim to melt away the pounds. It's mighty appealing to someone who wants a quick and simple way to lose some weight.

Here's the pitch: Life is stressful, your body responds to this stress by producing more of the hormone cortisol, this makes you store more fat, and so you put on the pounds.

"It's just nonsense," says David Schardt, a senior nutritionist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Researchers at the Oregon Health & Sciences University tested dozens of people in Seattle and Portland, and they did not find elevated cortisol levels. In the words of University endocronologist Johnathan Purnell, the stress-cortisol connection is a "myth."

"The obese do not have higher cortisol levels than the slim," Schardt says. And he points out that there is no good research to show that any of the products that claim to suppress cortisol levels actually do that."

"There's no evidence that they help people control weight," CSPI's Schardt says, "and it's just as well they don't because it's too dangerous to be monkeying around with cortisol levels."

But here's the No. 1 reason for not taking these cortisol supplements: there is no proof they are safe. Cortisol is a hormone. Among other things, it controls your blood pressure during a traumatic event. So, if you were to lower the levels of cortisol in your blood and you were injured in a car accident or experienced some other serious trauma, you'd run a greater risk of going into shock.

The bottom line? In the words of CSPI's David Schardt, "This is clearly a waste of money and people would be better off choosing a more conventional way to lose weight."

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission charged the makers of CortiSlim with making "deceptive efficacy claims." While a settlement is being worked out, the product is still being sold, but the ads have been changed.

Now, they try to sell you the "CortiSlim Lifestyle" which includes a diet plan, physical exercise, and stress management. All of those are sensible things to do. So why waste $5 a day for the pills?

For More Information:

Weight Loss in a Bottle? Not Likely

UC Berkeley Wellness Letter on CortiSlim

FTC Targets Products Claiming to Affect Stress Hormone Cortisol

FTC sues CortiSlim Makers