Over a third of us are overweight and we spend 11 billion pounds a year trying to get thin. Professor Regan takes on the multi-million pound diet industry. Using herself as a guinea pig, she will discover what to eat to lose 10lbs a year, find a diet pill that actually works, investigate whether we should all be taking vitamins to supplement our diets, and uncover a low-fat product that can really be trusted. Along the route to ultimate weight loss, she discovers that her body is 25 per cent fat, and takes on the diet pills you can buy on the high street by designing her own - with extraordinary results. Over 70 per cent of the study participants lose weight in just a month. She also puts her taste buds to the ultimate test in one of the world's leading food labs, and chews her way through a mound of carrots. The raw carrot is billed as the ultimate health food, but in this rather unusual experiment with the world's first computerised stomach model, Professor Regan discovers the raw carrot is not all it is cracked up to be.
Professor Regan goes behind the pharmacy counter to find out if the millions we spend every year on products from cold remedies to herbal medicines are worth it. Drawing on her own experience both as a doctor and as a breast cancer patient, Professor Regan discovers the real secret behind branded painkillers, reveals if homeopathy is a complete waste of money, investigates the ultimate cure for the common cold and tries out a test that could save your life.
Professor Regan investigates the lucrative world of children's products. From snack foods to educational toys, she discovers if the huge range of goods available for today's kids means they are destined to grow up healthier and smarter than the rest of us. Nearly every children's food product and toy now exploits the ultimate sales tool - parental guilt. What mother or father could resist forking out for goods that will make their child healthier or give them an advantage at school? Professor Regan gets to the truth behind claims cereals can improve children's performance at school, investigates the research behind the famous Omega-3 fish oils, and investigates the formula behind formula milk to see how it compares with breastfeeding. Professor Regan sets a challenge for some of the world's biggest toy manufacturers: to compete for the title of the ultimate educational toy. Will any of them meet the standards her team of developmental psychologists require for educational products? Along the way she learns why a cardboard box can be an ideal learning tool, and reveals why educational children's laptops are not always as good as they seem.
Professor Regan investigates the world of beauty, where a scientific sales pitch can make you millions. From anti-ageing injections to detox products, she discovers if there really are scientifically proven ways to make you look younger, keep your skin silky smooth and hair-free, and give you the perfect body. In the world of beauty, the stakes have been raised. The picture-perfect celebrity image is no longer just for the red carpet, it is what we all aspire to. So it is no surprise companies want to sell us the scientific shortcut to this perfect image. Based on scientific advice, Professor Regan devises the ultimate exercise regime, involving no gyms, weights, running or classes. It is a regime she has used herself to keep her slim figure. She tests it out on a willing guinea pig, with surprising results.