Newspapers around the country are running full-page ads -- disguised to look like regular news pages -- filled with misleading claims for a new 'miracle' diet pill called Apatrim that allegedly enables dieters to lose weight without either cutting back on eating or increasing their exercise.

The pages contain a bylined story from the Universal Media Syndicate (intended, no doubt, to be confused with the Universal Press Syndicate, which carries columnists such as Dear Abby and William F. Buckley Jr.) urging overweight readers to phone a toll-free number to order "every dieter's dream."

Apatrim, according to the story, is a "newly released diet pill" which contains an extract of Caralluma Fimbriata, a cactus-like plant widely grown in India where it is eaten as a vegetable and used as an ingredient in curries and chutneys.

What we can confirm is that Caralluma Fimbriata, like the South African "succulent" plant Hoodia Gordonii, has indeed been chewed for many years by Indian tribesmen during long hunts to suppress appetite and enhance endurance.

But from there, the breathless weight-loss claims for Apatrim not only become more suspect, but seem likely to ultimately involve its distributor, PatentHEALTH, LLC , with the judicial system.

For starters, Apatrim is neither the cheapest nor least expensive way to take a Caralluma Fimbriata extract.

In fact, the company that has been developing the process for extracting the phytochemical constituents of Caralluma Fimbriata, Gencor Pacific, not only has had a similar product, Slimaluma, on the market for more than a year, but you can buy a month's supply for as little as $29.37 including shipping

In contrast, a month's supply of Apatrim ordered from the "800" number -- where a call center operator "congratulates" you on being "one of the lucky ones to get through the phone line" -- will cost you the bargain price of $56.75 including shipping.

But beyond price, there may be some other reasons to be concerned about Apatrim.

The so-called clinical trial referenced in the ad, an anemic study that involved only 26 participants followed for four weeks (a serious Phase III clinical trial of a diet drug would involve thousands of participants tracked over at least a year), was sponsored by the developer of Slimaluma -- not Apatrim.

And the "proprietary method of extraction that is protected by U.S. Patent #7,060,308" -- which "enables Apatrim's manufacturer to put the plant's benefits into a pill" -- also does not appear to be proprietary to PatentHEALTH, LLC.

Gencor Pacific, which markets Slimaluma, also appears to be taking a quite aggressive stance in protecting its weight-loss product.

In February, Gencor Pacific filed suit in federal district court in the Northern District of Illinois against Federal Laboratories Corporation and Nature's Thyme, LLC alleging false advertising, false comparative advertising, and a variety of other charges stemming from their efforts to sell a a non-extract Caralluma fimbriata powder product.

"Gencor became aware of products from these companies when it learned that each company was using Gencor's Caralluma extract studies and reports in connection with the sale of Federal Lab's and Nature's Thyme's Caralluma fimbriata non-extract products," the company said.

"Gencor is concerned that companies and consumers are being misled into believing that Federal Lab's and Nature's Thyme's crude powder products are the same as or equivalent to Gencor's extract."