The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is ramping up its enforcement efforts with its latest initiative, called “Operation Failed Resolution,” reports the New York Times.  On Tuesday, the commission charged four companies with deceptively marketing their weight loss products.  The FTC asserted that these companies made “unfounded promises” that consumers could shed pounds simply by using their food additives, skin creams, and other dietary supplements.

In this round of the crackdown, the FTC came down on Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct, and LeanSpa.  The companies have all come to a settlement with the FTC in which they will collectively pay $34 million to refund consumers.  As part of the settlement, the companies neither admitted nor denied fault in the case.

This case is part of a broader crackdown on companies that the government finds is selling fad weight loss products that have no basis in evidence for the claims that they are making.  The settlements in the cases with these four companies made it clear that the FTC would only be willing to accept double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to document the medical effectiveness of diet regimes.  Without such studies, making claims of weight loss efficacy is unsubstantiated and subject to enforcement by the FTC.

Operation Failed Resolution alludes to the common New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, which have consumers seeking shortcuts for doing so.  The weight loss industry has seen the benefits of consumer desire to lose weight, with consumers expected to spend $66 billion this year on dietary supplements, diet soft drinks, health club memberships and other products aimed at weight loss.

In 2004, the FTC announced “Operation Big Fat Lie.”  At that time, the FTC charged six companies with false marketing.  Among the fraudulent products that year was Himalayan Diet Breakthrough, a diet pill containing Nepalese mineral pitch. The seller, AVS Marketing, claimed that users could lose as much as 37 pounds in eight weeks while still consuming unlimited amounts of food.  In 1997, “Operation Waistline” targeted seven companies that marketed the weight-loss properties of products like “Fat Burners” diet supplements, “Svelte-Patch” skin patches, and “Slimming Soles” shoe insoles.

While these companies are being called out by the FTC, the U.S. News and World Report has issued its annual ranking of best diets.  Evaluating 32 diets with the input of a panel of health experts, this ranking offers somewhere to turn for consumers that want to lose weight.  It may not offer the quick results of the fad products, but these are more likely to actually deliver on their promises (with dedication and effort from the consumer).