Some people -- generally women -- will do anything to lose weight. Slimming products range from the bizarre to the outright absurd -- from balloons that claim to raise your body temperature and burn calories when you inflate them, to rubber suction cups that promise to shrink that double chin or expunge under-eye bags when you attach them to your face. Or you could always blow a plastic slimming whistle. These whistles -- hold your breath -- are claimed to strengthen your abdominal muscles.

For those who are skeptical of such devices, the latest slimming products might appear more convincing because of their slick packaging. Over the past year, the shelves of stores and sports clubs have been piling ever higher with dietary supplements -- vitamins, herbs, minerals and botanicals in every conceivable form, from tablets to capsules, powders and liquids. But their claims may be just as dubious. Perhaps, more importantly, it's also difficult to vouch for how safe they are, and you might be better off using them only after getting some medical guidance.

Not that 33-year-old Sae Inoue (not her real name) lets any of this put her off. "If I'm doubtful about a product, I check it out on the Internet," Inoue says casually, while surveying the diet products at Tokyu Hands' Shibuya store. "I like dietary supplements, because I don't have to worry about limiting my diet or exercising." Inoue, who describes herself as "an OL at a computer company," looks thin already, but she's been trying different dietary supplements since they went on the market last year. Her favorites are the herbal teas.