Table 2.

Summary of users’ qualitative responses for reasons, expectations, experiences and steps taken to ensure quality of the product, presented in decreasing order of frequency

Categoriesa	Content	Frequency
Reasons	Effective/fast fat loss as the ultimate goal	20
	Effective/fast fat loss to enable working toward the ultimate goal	4
	Curiosity	4
	Image enhancement	2
	Increase calorie intake without consequences on weight	1
	Shortcut	1
	Recommendation	1
Expectations	Positive outcome	13
	Specific side effects	6
	Mixed positive outcome and generic unpleasant experience	5
	Mixed positive outcome and specific unpleasant experience, including death	3
	General unpleasant experience	2
	Nonspecific responses	2
Ensuring quality	Trust and reputation of the dealer/retailer	16
	Self-experimentation	7
	Analytical testing	6
	None	4
	Visual examination	2
Experiences	Weight loss and side effects were as expected	16
	Reality adjustment	4
	Negative experience with side-effects	3

Notes:

^acategories emerged from the data