Diet patch online advert banned

By Tulip Mazumdar
Newsbeat health reporter

Holly Melia tried out the pink patches

A special Newsbeat investigation into a controversial diet patch which has been appearing on sites like Facebook has led to the online ads being pulled.

In June, Newsbeat heard from young women who'd tried the patch but claimed they had not lost any weight on them.

Some people were angry they had paid up to £60 for the monthly supplies of patches which you're supposed to stick onto your skin for 24 hours at a time.

The company claims it works by releasing natural appetite suppressors.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says there's no evidence the patch actually does this.

Lynsay Taffe speaks for the ASA.

She said: "They provided evidence that they thought backed up their claims as to why the patch worked.

"But we found their evidence simply didn't support what they wanted to say in their ads."

One of the adverts said you could "drop a stone in two weeks".

The Pink Patch ads pop up on the left of Facebook pages

But the ASA found encouraging weight loss at that rate was "contrary to good medical and nutritional practice".

Lynsay Taffe said they also found some studies for the patch were carried out on animals instead of humans, which is against its code.

"For a product like this we'd need good solid evidence that the product worked in humans," she added.

When Newsbeat spoke to Curb Your Cravings which sell the Pink Patch last month, they said they follow very strict manufacturing guidelines and that their customers are happy with their product.