Artificial sweeteners like aspartame are supposed to enhance the taste of foods but, unlike sugar, are virtually devoid of calories.

The unspoken promise here is that by consuming artificial sweeteners you have better control over keeping an eye on your weight. While this makes sense, you might be surprised to know that there is no good evidence to support this ‘promise’.

Yep, not one single properly conducted study exists in scientific literature that proves artificial sweeteners actually aid weight loss. So, either the studies haven’t been done, or they have been done but haven’t been published...

If you come across let’s say a ‘new wonder supplement’ that promises to make you lose weight, burn fat super fast without any exercise, maintain healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels and reduce inflammation and is an anti- diabetic, you won’t be blamed for thinking: Yeah right, somewhere, someone is having a laugh...

That’s exactly what I thought when I heard of Irvingia Gabonensis, the latest weight loss supplement to hit the marketplace. Knowing how many people struggle to keep their weight down or combat obesity, I simply had to investigate and find out exactly what the truth is behind Irvingia Gabonensis.

Earlier this week I wrote about the side-effects (or rather ‘treatment effects’) of the over-the-counter ‘diet drug’ Alli. Since then, weight loss and diet have been on my mind and this morning, when I saw a morbidly obese woman struggling on her way to work it struck me: Perhaps for some people the urgency to lose weight is a pressing matter, but a very difficult obstacle to overcome.

Let’s face it, if you are morbidly obese, going on an exercise programme can be a daunting (if not impossible) prospect – it’s even a struggle for me. It’s then no wonder that some people look for help in measures such as harmful diet pills and invasive procedures like gastric bypasses.

US researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that people with a serious snoring problem use around 2,000 calories a day while at rest, compared to an average of 1,626 calories for those who snore lightly.

Here’s a thought from the UK Obesity statistics: About 46 per cent of men in England and 32 percent of women are overweight – meaning the have a body mass index of 25-30 kg/m2. An additional 17 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women are obese - a body mass index of more than 30 kg/m2. Recently the obesity problem in the UK has been called: The disease of our time. This comes as the latest government figures show no drop in the number of children who are obese, despite an array of strategies to tackle the problem. The latest research warns that one in three adults in the UK will be obese by 2012.

Numerous studies have revealed a link between coffee consumption and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. It was previously thought that it was the caffeine in coffee which was responsible for this effect. However, a recent US study of 28,000 women found that drinking more than six cups of decaffeinated coffee a day was associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of diabetes compared with no coffee. Further research pointed to substances called chlorogenic acids (polyphenols with antioxidant activity) in coffee as being responsible for its beneficial action on glucose metabolism. However, some studies showed that it was necessary to consume copious amounts of coffee for it to have this effect. Consequently this led researchers to develop a coffee bean extract rich in chlorogenic acids which has now been adapted into a natural food supplement.

Each of us has a built-in hormonal reflex that sends a 'full' message from digestive organs to the brain.

As a nation we have been gradually getting more and more overweight, to the point where in the last 10 years the number of overweight people has actually doubled. Worse still, 12 million people in England alone are predicted to be obese by 2010. While diet and lifestyle changes are the obvious first ports of call in any weight management programme, sometimes a little extra help may be necessary. This is where a new plant-based product called Slimaluma which contains a cactus-like herb called Caralluma fimbriata from the Asclepiadaceae family comes in. It has been clinically proven to stave off hunger and benefit those trying to shed a few pounds.

Many people who aren't obese, or even a little overweight, are suffering from obesity fatigue: the weariness of having to constantly hear about obesity in the mainstream media.