Obesity, a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30.0 kg/m squared has become a worldwide epidemic. Nearly one-third of the population in the US is obese and another one-third of the adult population is overweight (BMI 25.0 - 29.9 kg/m squared).

The incidence of severe obesity (BMI greater than 40 kg/m squared) more than doubled during the decade of the 90's. The consequences to one's health for being overweight include increased risk of developing:

Heart disease High blood pressure Type 2 diabetes Elevated blood lipids Certain cancers Muscle and skeletal disorders Sleep apnea Complications in pregnancy Depression and other psychological problems

The total direct (healthcare) and indirect (lost productivity) costs were estimated to be a staggering $117 billon in 2000, or about one-half of the total costs caused by hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in the history of the USA. The real difference between the costs for Katrina and for obesity might best be described as the difference between a one-time and an ever increasing recurring expense. In the absence of effective treatment, the costs of obesity cannot help but do severe damage to the economy.

Fiber is defined as a dietary constituent that is not degraded into absorbable units within the stomach or small intestine. Soluble fibers are more soluble in water relative to insoluble fibers. To further classify dietary fiber it is said that they are either fermentable or nonfermentable, depending on whether or not undigested fibers are consumed by the microbes contained in the large bowel; this fermentation is the source of the gas and hence much locker-room humor that accompanies a high fiber diet.

The idea of increasing dietary fiber for weight management and promotion of good health is not a new one. A recent study has indicated that a daily increase of 10 grams of dietary fiber intake lowers the risk of coronary events by 12% and coronary deaths by 19%. Interestingly, this study also found that obese individuals have significantly higher fat and lower fiber consumption compared to normal weight individuals; furthermore that there is no difference in energy intake between the obese and normal weight individuals. We might conclude from this that the difference in body weight, between normal and obese individuals, has more to do with fat than energy consumption. Some researchers have concluded that by increasing daily fiber intake by 14 grams reduces energy intake by 10% and causes a decrease in body weight. The weight reducing effect of dietary fiber was found to be more pronounced in obese than in normal weight individuals.

There are numerous products available from nutritional food supplement stores, pharmacies and supermarkets, not to mention a plethora of websites that contain either specific fibers or combinations of fibers. Almost all of these products guarantee your satisfaction, but not necessarily your weight loss. All of these products base their (inferred) weight loss claims upon one of two concepts; fiber as a fat absorber or fiber as a bulking agent that increases your feeling of fullness. Until the introduction of FBCx none of these claims have been substant

iated in the scientific literature.

Weight management is really not rocket science; it is simply a matter of balancing energy intake with energy required. Unfortunately, as your mother may have told you, the devil is in the details. The culture that we have embraced in the West and which we are rapidly exporting around the world, demands plenty of inexpensive, good tasting, high energy food and as little physical labor/activity as is possible. The result is that we tend to eat more calories than we need causing our bodies to store the unused calories as fat. In order to lose excess weight and then maintain a desired weight requires a lifestyle change that is so great that most of us will not even consider it, and those of us that do usually last only about 60-90 days on our Spartan regime. If you can do it, go for it and relish the fact that you are in a very elite club of very disciplined individuals. It is with these obstacles to weight management in mind that we developed FBCx.

FBCx is a soluble, all natural, clinically tested, dietary fiber that is considered to be safe for human consumption at any level by the WHO (World health Organization) and has GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status in the USA. FBCx is unlike any other fiber that we know of in that it has the very unique ability to form a stable complex with and reduce the bioavailability of nine times its own weight in dietary fat. Taking six one-gram tablets of FBCx as directed with fat containing meals effectively eliminates about 54 grams of fat or the equivalent of 500 kcal from a normal North American diet with no known side effects. Thus if your diet and weight is more or less constant prior to starting FBCx, you should be able to lose 3,500 kcal (7×500 per day) or 1-1½ pounds of body weight per week. This 1-1½ pounds per week may not sound like much but it is what is considered to be a safe rate and when you multiply it by 52 weeks in a year, it quickly becomes significant. During 2005 we presented our clinical trial data at the American Diabetes Association and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity annual meetings.

Is FBCx the miracle-in-a-bottle that is going to solve the obesity epidemic? Probably not, but used as directed it is a safe and effective means of reducing and maintaining your body weight.

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