"WORST" DIET PROMOTIONS OF 2008

20th ANNUAL SLIM CHANCE AWARDS

HETTINGER, ND - Healthy Weight Network released its 20th annual Slim Chance
Awards today, highlighting both the hidden dangers of diets and the merely
ridiculous. Here are the "worst" weight loss promotions of 2008.

MOST OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM: Kevin Trudeau infomercials. Fined over $7 million for
deceptive infomercials on his weight loss book, Kevin Trudeau is banned for
three years from making infomercials.

WORST GIMMICK: Skineez jeans ($139). In the fight against cellulite,
Skineez jeans are impregnated with a so-called "medication" of retinol and
chitosan. Supposedly the substance is released through friction and absorbed
in the skin to reduce fat layers.

WORST CLAIM: AbGONE. Full-page ads in daily newspapers tout AbGONE as
"proven to promote pot belly loss." Drug-like claims are that it increases
"fat metabolism" and calorie burn, promotes appetite suppression and
inhibits future abdominal fat deposits.

WORST PRODUCT - Kimkins diet. Heidi "Kimmer" Diaz charged users access to
her Internet diet, claiming they could lose up to 5 percent of weight in 10
days safely and permanently. Essentially it is a starvation diet, and
members complained of chest pains, hair loss, heart palpitations and
menstrual irregularities. Eleven are now suing Diaz.

"Today's economic downturn can remind us how foolish it is to waste money on
unsafe, ineffective and energy-draining weight loss efforts," said Francie
M. Berg, a licensed nutritionist and adjunct professor at the University of
North Dakota School of Medicine, whose organization Healthy Weight Network
started the Slim Chance Awards 20 years ago.

With the New Year upon us, resolutions freshly on our minds, Berg is
advising people of all sizes to skip dieting and move ahead with healthy
habits. "Resolve to follow a healthy diet-free lifestyle through 2009. You
can get your life back on track, improve your health and move on with what's
really important to you." (Guidelines available at
www.healthyweight. net/handouts. htm.)

The National Council Against Health Fraud and Healthy Weight Network
co-sponsor the awards, which are part of the lead-up to Healthy Weight Week,
which falls from January 18 to 24 in 2009.

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For more information see www.healthyweight.net/hww.htm