Trimspa was just another diet pill before the late Anna Nicole Smith became the Trimspa spokesperson. Her commercials, in which she attributed the loss of 69 pounds to Trimspa diet pills, overnight turned this diet supplement into a national craze.

Her famous answer, to those who asked her how she slimmed down, was: "Trimspa, baby!"

While Trimspa originally contained the stimulant ephedra, it was subsequently reformulated into an ephedra-free version after safety concerns led to ephedra being banned in the United States.

The new version, which relies heavily on the stimulants green tea extract and cocoa extract, can still provide too much stimulation for some people and cause insomnia, anxiety, palpitations, and restlessness.

Trimspa also contains glucomannan, a dietary fiber that expands in the stomach to reduce appetite by creating a feeling of fullness.

While Trimspa also claims to contain Hoodia gordonii, it is hard to know how much of a role this plays. The real South African herb, Hoodia, is very difficult to obtain.

Many pills currently being sold that are said to be based on Hoodia have been found to contain little, if any, of the active ingredient needed to suppress hunger.

The one thing that appears to be true is that much of the popularity of Trimspa can be attributed to clever marketing.

The maker of Trimspa is now developing Million Dollar Makeover Challenge, a weight-loss reality show that you probably soon will be seeing on television.