Here's the same link to the Wired story.

Chitosan has been around for quite some time. It was a hot weight loss product on infomercials a number of years ago. Pop a couple capsules of chitosan powder and supposedly it would absorb the oil/fat in the food so that it wouldn't be absorbed--ergo lose weight! Uhhhh...right.

I think these bandages are a much better use of chitosan than as a weight loss gimick. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />