Think the yanks are fat? Well, take a look in the mirror, Australia. Obesity rates here have more than doubled over the past 20 years, and today, about seven million Australians are either overweight or obese, according to the Department of Health.

Though the obesity issue has been addressed at every level of the media, and the majority of the population does seem aware of its causes, our nation continues to get, well, fatter. And in turn more desperate for solutions preferably of the ‘quick fix’ variety. Why would you gradually change your detrimental lifestyle if there were a little pill to pop that could make it all better? Drastic television makeover programs, which claim to help "ugly ducklings" reach their full potential in a few short weeks, don't help the situation. Nor do the myriad gossip rags that volley between branding celebrities like Lindsay Lohan stunningly svelte one day, and terrifyingly thin the next.

The message that does ring true through all the nonsense is this: Thin is in. And the newest crop of proverbial miracles in a bottle all claim to assist in this regard. Leave it to the French to come up with Slim Delices, a collection of "slimming" coffee, tea and chocolate (yes, chocolate), using ingredients like guarana, chicory inulin, artichoke and green tea. Or if your sweet tooth is nonexistent, there is always Jana Skinny Water, an appetite-suppressing water with Super CitriMax extracted from an indigenous Southeast Asian fruit.

But if you're the type who prefers their panaceas in pill form, there is the much-hyped Hoodia Gordoni. Used, as the press release for H57 Hoodia claims, "for more than 100,000 years by the South African Bushmen of the Kalahari to help stave off hunger during long hunting expeditions", this derivative of a native cactus plant is now available to the general public.

It seems so very wrong, though decidedly in accordance with the Western way, to pillage and bastardise a natural resource for our own, vain purposes. As one devotee of H57 Hoodia claims: "My extra weight literally melted off once I started taking this. I have no desire to eat. I'm never hungry and, like the bottle says, I have to remember to eat."
Herein lies the root problem with all of these so-called solutions. They all claim to suppress users' appetites when combined with a healthful diet and routine exercise, though the question remains: Is the former really necessary when you have the latter? It shouldn't be. FV