Chances are your Facebook feed’s being flooded with gossip about slimming specialist Mary Chia’s firing of ambassador Chen Li Ping after the actress reportedly attributed her weight loss to something called garcinia cambogia.
So, what’s the deal? Right off the bat, said scandal making the social media rounds is mischievous at best and malicious at worst – not to mention patently false, as Mary Chia’s official Facebook page points out.
It also behooves me to underscore something incredibly important: You should not be purchasing garcinia cambogia off the Internet, since it is quite frankly part of a noxious online scam.
To wit, the very same “source” containing purported quotes by Chen Li Ping to Women’s Healthhas been fingered by the women’s fitness publication as having illegally used its branding to fob off fake pills. (I’ll note that Women’s Health isn’t even licensed in Singapore.)
A cursory Google search on garcinia cambogia throws up some intriguing research on the exotic fruit, which contains a fat-burning compound that’s said to function as an appetite suppressant, among other too-good-to-be-true claims.
On the “minus” side of things, there’s the inconvenient fact that because garcinia cambogia is classified as a supplement (and not a drug) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, precious few regulations are in place to ensure the safety of the pills you’re popping.
Take it from the experts themselves, who have issued an emphatic statement on the brand’s official Facebook page. Key excerpt: “Ms Chen Liping has never consumed any slimming pills from any source in the course of her weight loss journey. Please do not be deceived by these fraudulent sponsored posts by unknown web merchants. The consumption of unknown pills and substances from shady sources may contain ingredients that may prove harmful.”
Bottom line? Our beloved Singapore acting veteran did not get fired and she’s not a proponent of purchasing dodgy pills off the Net – and neither should you!
For more information, visit marychia.com/sg and follow Mary Chia Singapore on Facebook.