The Ironic Meaning of the German Weight-Loss Product “Almased” in Arabic

What happens when the name of a popular German weight-loss product, Almased, sounds just like the Arabic word for more or excess?

This article explores the funny and ironic linguistic mix-up where a diet shake’s name (الْمَزِيد – al-Mazeed) means the exact opposite of its goal, a fact unknown to its many German users.

Recently, I met a guy telling me that he is trying to lose some weight. I asked him about his diet, and he answered: “al-Mazeed”.

What?!

He really pronounced it very much like the Arabic word الْمَزِيد. It was a bizarre situation.

The Arabic word مَزِيدٌ is based on the root ز-ي-د. The root means to become greater; to increase; to amount more; to go beyond an amount or number; to add; to extend; to expand… The word مَزِيدٌ denotes, for example, superabundance; excess; increase.

I guess there are not many Arabic roots which would corrupt the intended meaning of a diet that much.

When I told him what the name (as he pronounced it) would mean to Arabic speakers, he was totally surprised. He had no idea about that.

So, I googled the product. The registered brand name is “Almased”.

On the company’s website, you can read that this product is “the market leader in Germany”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about the history and meaning of the brand name – but only that around 30 years ago, “Hubertus Trouillé’s passion for holistic science lead to the development of Almased – a product he created to help his patients with their slow metabolism.”

Okay, maybe he was just unlucky and mispronounced it. Nope! He was not the only person. I met other people who also told me that they use “al-Mazeed”.

It wanted to dig deeper. Even on YouTube, you find many German people who tell you how they use “Almased” – and most of them pronounce it close to the Arabic pronunciation of الْمَزِيد.

I have no idea if the product works as I have never tried it. So if anyone uses it, don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against this product.

However, I think that now it is time that German people skip Latin and Greek and teach Arabic at schools – at least, they wouldn’t be shocked anymore if an Arabic speaker tells them, what the name of one of the best-selling diets in Germany in Arabic may mean.