Regulators have banned an advert which appeared on the internet claiming women wearing a patch could lose a stone in two weeks.

The web advert from CYC Marketing/thepinkpatch.co.uk showed a woman's midriff with a pink patch stuck to it accompanied by the words "Want to lose the tummy?" and "Drop a stone in two weeks!".

Complaints made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) questioned whether the claims could be backed up and if the advert was irresponsible because it encouraged weight loss at a rate that was incompatible with good medical and nutritional practice.

CYC Marketing told the ASA that significant scientific evidence supported the advert's claims, saying that the Pink Patch contained a number of herbal ingredients, all of which had been shown to promote weight loss and/or increase metabolic rate.

The company provided the ASA with a number of ingredient-specific studies in support, some of which were carried out in rats and dogs.

In its ruling today the ASA said it had not been given sufficient evidence that when combined together in the Pink Patch, the ingredients resulted in any weight loss, nor that it could help wearers to "Drop a stone in two weeks".

"The evidence did not persuade us that wearing the Pink Patch would result in a loss of body fat and we concluded that the claim "Drop a stone in two weeks" was unsubstantiated and could mislead," an ASA statement said.

The regulator also decided that the advert was irresponsible as it advocated weight loss at a rate of 1lb per day, which goes against good medical and nutritional advice.

As a result the ASA said today that the advert must not appear again in its current form

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