Metabolife in Newsweek
-
So you're feeling a little thick around the middle and you've heard enough about abstinence and exercise. Wouldn't it be nice if you could pop a pill, stretch out in the BarcaLounger and incinerate calories like a long-distance runner? That's the idea behind a hot herbal supplement called Metabolife 356. Americans are downing it like candy, and some are claiming remarkable results. "Metabolife has been absolutely amazing for me," says 43-year-old Anna Hamersly of Woodbridge, Ill. Hamersly says she weighed about 270 pounds when she started using the product last year. She's now down to 200--and expecting to drop an additional 20 pounds by New Year's. "I feel like a new person," she says.
Launched four years ago by a former San Diego cop with no formal medical training, Metabolife is now one of America's best-selling herbal products. Enthusiasts peddle it from living rooms and kiosks, as well as retail shops. And Metabolife International, the privately held company that produces the stuff, says its sales will approach $1 billion this year--a figure that places Metabolife in the same league as such blockbuster pharmaceuticals as Prozac and Viagra. The catch is that the stimulants it contains can be dangerous: the Food and Drug Administration has warned that products like Metabolife can cause "cardiac arrhythmia and death." Several states have moved to ban or restrict their use, and a few users have filed lawsuits claiming injury. Yet consumers continue to down an estimated 225,000 pills every hour.