andrea@hp-sdd.UUCP (andrea) (01/15/85)
> >Subject: What's in those new diet-while-you-sleep potions? >-- >Several TV stations in the Chicago area have ads for get-thin-quick >elixirs that you take before going to sleep. They claim you wake up >pounds lighter. (You'll certainly wake up dollars lighter.) I'm real >curious--what is this stuff really? >-- One such elixir that I have seen turned out to be an amino acid combination touted in Drew Pearson's Life Extension books. There, all sorts of claims are made for them with more illustrative anecdotes and pictures of the authors than actual experimental evidence. To my knowledge, nobody has really checked out whether these amino acids (which are supposed to stimulate your "growth hormone" and give you the metabolism of a 17-yr-old) actually work or not, but the word from my medical friends is that they probably won't hurt you if you take them in the doses listed, for a couple of weeks max. Be especially alert for mood and irritability changes, and listen to what your body tells you. I tend to agree with the sentiment "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is", but I also know that there are many ideas that were considered off-the-wall ten years ago that have been borne out by research (e.g., chromium for blood-sugar problems) and have started to infiltrate the more open-minded doctors' practices. Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 487-4100 x4664 net: {allegra|ihnp4|decvax|ucbvax}!hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea ...searchlights casting for faults in the clouds of delusion