CortiSlim is a supplement that claims to help you lose weight by reducing the cortisol level in your body. The company claims that high levels of stress cause obesity, because your body releases the hormone cortisol in response to stress, making you store excess fat.

The University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter reports that "researchers have indeed been looking into the role of cortisol in obesity, but at this point it is still theoretical. In any case, there’s no evidence that CortiSlim will reduce cortisol, or that lowering cortisol causes weight loss."

"There’s no evidence that CortiSlim will lead to weight loss, or that it is safe," the Wellness Letter adds.

CortiSlimcontains calcium, chromium, vanadium, and a cocktail of herbs including banaba leaf extract, green tea extract, bitter orange peel, magnolia bark extract, and beta sitosterol.

Green tea extract and bitter orange peel are common substitutes for the now banned amphetamine-like compound Ephedrine. They may work like ephedrine and speed up calorie burning slightly. But the Wellness Letter notes they may also be dangerous, like epherine, and there’s no research showing they lead to long-term weight loss.

Magnolia bark has long been used as an herbal medicine in Asia, and is a key ingredient of two of the most popular herbal medicines used in treating a wide variety of ailments in Japan.

On October 5, 2004, the Federal Trade Commission charged marketers of CortiSlim with claiming, falsely and without substantiation, that their product can cause weight loss and reduce the risk of, or prevent, serious health conditions.

According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants’ broadcast ads, print ads, and Web sites claimed that persistently elevated levels of cortisol, the “stress hormone,” are the underlying cause of weight gain and weight retention and also claimed that CortiSlim effectively reduces and controls cortisol levels and thereby causes substantial weight loss.

The FTC alleged that the defendants claimed that CortiSlim: (1) causes weight loss of 10 to 50 pounds for virtually all users; (2) causes users to lose as much as 4 to 10 pounds per week over multiple weeks; (3) causes users to lose weight specifically from the abdomen, stomach, and thighs; (4) causes rapid and substantial weight loss; (5) causes long-term or permanent weight loss; and (6) causes weight loss.

The FTC also alleged that the defendants claimed that the effectiveness of CortiSlim and its ingredients is demonstrated by over 15 years of scientific research.

According to the FTC’s complaint, these claims are false or unsubstantiated.

On Sept. 21, 2005, the FTC announced it had settled with three of seven defendants who agreed to give up $4.5 million in cash and other assets to settle Federal Trade Commission charges stemming from their roles in the marketing of CortiSlim. The FTC said the agreement also prohibited the making of certain claims about CortiSlim and required competent and reliable scientific evidence to support any other claims made about the products.

The FTC said litigation against four other defendants was continuing.

Additionally, a class action lawsuit is pending against the makers of Cortislim by dissatisfied customers who charged that the claims made by the company were misleading.