Temporarily entering the world of insomniacs one night, I picked up the TV remote to see what those restless souls watched while most of us are off in dreamland. Between reruns of comedies on Nick at Nite and endless forecasts on the Weather Channel, I was captivated by a commercial hawking supplements to "boost your metabolism and burn away the fat." Astonished by the claims, I logged on to the Internet and began investigating.
It turns out such supplements are as prolific as an insomniac's sheep, with names like Liquid Clenbutrx, MD6, Metabolic Complete, Hydroxycut, Xenadrine RFA-1 and Stacker 3, to...