The highly advertised spa-type ?body wraps? may make a person feel pampered, but they are incapable of producing anything more than temporary water loss, ?perhaps no more than a diuretic pill,? cautioned UAB plastic surgeon Jorge de la Torre, M.D.

?The body wraps, which amount to a high-humidity exercise workout, have nothing at all to do with any longstanding loss of weight or fat cells.?

Some spas say a client will lose 20-30 inches after a wrap, as determined by adding up before-and-after measurements at dozens of body points.

The after-measurements are taken immediately after the wrap and reflect some water loss and compression by the ace-bandage wrap - ?neither of which is of lasting value.?

University of Alabama at Birmingham
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