Smelling Your Path to Weight Loss?

We all know that pixie dust sprinkled on and around your body can make you fly, so why not a magic tastant crystal that you sniff to lose weight without diet or exercise? (A tastant is a substance that stimulates your sense of taste.)

Dr. Alan Hirsch purports to have created just that – a tastant crystal called Sensa that allows you to “Lose 30+ Pounds Without Dieting.”  Sensa is marketed as “an entirely NEW, clinically proven method of losing weight … [with] no food restrictions, and no change in lifestyle.”  Specifically, the claim is that you sprinkle Sensa on your food and it “works with your sense of smell to stimulate an area of your brain called the ‘satiety center,’” which then “trigger[s] your ‘I feel full’ signal, so you eat less and feel more satisfied.”

According to two class-action lawsuits, however,

[t]his sales pitch is false, misleading, and unsubstantiated because there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.  In fact, Sensa crystals have never been proven efficacious for weight loss.  In fact, Sensa crystals have never been proven to have any effect on the “satiety center” of the brain.  In fact, Sensa crystals are ineffective.

Gee, I hope this doesn’t negatively impact pixie dust sales.