The information in this book could save you money, frustration, embarrassment, and disappointment. It could even save your life! People annually spend billions of pounds Chr(45) needlessly - on vitamins, minerals, herbal concoctions, ergogenic aids, fitness equipment and apparel, and alternative health-care treatments. Dr Larry M. Forness provides the critical tools to help you evaluate the many health-care and fitness services and products available today. Using actual ads as examples, Forness presents the best ways to keep from ever being duped again by an industry that is rife with deception and ignorance, and also includes specific tips from industry "insiders". The ultimate goal is to make you self-sufficient in appraising industry hype, and to give you the criteria to test real-world results against marketing claims. By judicious use of VIPs - Very Important Points - and concise checklists throughout the book, readers are given the most important facts in a readily usable form. Topics covered include the real meaning of "scientifically proven"; methods for quantitatively analysing such claims as "more energy" and "improved strength"; fad diets; fitness equipment; ageing remedies; abuse of the labels "certified", "registered", and "licensed"; plus an extremely useful glossary. Before you begin yet another weight-loss or fitness program or buy some new health-care product, you owe it to yourself to read what Dr Forness has to say.