If you've listened to the radio or read a newspaper lately, you know the pitch: Get a full body scan. Take control of your health. Save your life. The commercials are so convincing, you wonder if you are neglecting your health if you don't get scanned. Are the scans, which can cost $500 or more and aren't typically covered by insurance, help or hype?

According to a new study, the pitches for whole body scans don't always provide balanced information. Researchers from Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics analyzed 40 print ads and 20 brochures for whole body scans done with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). They found 38 percent of the ads and 25 percent of the brochures contained statements that lacked clear scientific evidence.

Okay, so the pitches can be exaggerated. But should you get a scan anyway, and possibly catch cancer, heart disease and other ailments in their early, curable stages? According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, full body CT scans offer no proven benefits for healthy people. In a brochure on the topic, the FDA states, "At this time the FDA knows of no scientific evidence demonstrating that whole body scanning of individuals without symptoms provides more benefit than harm to people being screened." The FDA's advice is to discuss the risks and benefits with your physician.

Professional associations for radiologists are also against full body scans in healthy people. Currently, the American College of Radiology's stand is that it does not believe there is "sufficient evidence to justify recommending total body CT screening for patients with no symptoms or a family history suggesting disease."