Health Concerns of the hCG Diet
Diet Fad Raises Serious Questions About Safety and Accuracy
Oct 12, 2009
What is the hCG diet? Simply put, the hCG diet involves injecting synthetic Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone secreted by a woman's placenta during pregnancy, into the body. This is combined with a daily 500 calorie intake, theoretically resulting in the retention of lean muscle while losing 1/2 to 3 lbs. of fat per day.
This diet is being touted by writer and infomercial marketer Kevin Trudeau in his self-published book, “Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About.” His popular book has been outsold only by “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” according to Neilson Book-Scan.
Who is Kevin Trudeau?
Mr. Trudeau is founder of the International Pool Tour and an alternative health and diet maven with a questionable background.
According to the N.Y. Times, “in the early 90's, he served two years in federal prison for credit-card fraud. During that period, he falsified credit-card applications, charged a total of $122,000 and landed in prison.” Upon release, Mr. Trudeau started a business with Jules Lieb, his cellmate, who had gone to prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine. Their business, Trudeau Marketing Group, sold skin care and nutrition products and signed up others as distributors.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has targeted Trudeau in several lawsuits. In 2004 the FTC stopped him from broadcasting his infomercial that claimed his coral calcium supplement would cure cancer, and then again when he claimed that his Biotape pain reliever would not only cure pain, but would do so permanently. The FTC came after him again in 2007, and he was held in contempt for the marketing tactics employed with his current book on the hCG diet. The book falls under constitutional Freedom of the Press protection however, and is still being marketed and sold.
Concerns
The HCG diet is not new, although the calorie intake restrictions are the work of Mr. Trudeau. The diet began in the 1950's by Dr. A. T. W. Simeons. In 1976, the diet was put into a double-blind study by six physicians, who found that it was completely ineffective for weight loss in humans. Their scientific paper of the study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Five hundred calories is a near-starvation diet, and Health Magazine states, “Any diet that drops below 1,000 calories is really unsafe for most of us to begin with, and you’re apt to lose a lot of weight even if you’re getting injected with milk shakes.“ The article goes on to state that scientists don't know if hCG injections are safe when your body is not manufacturing it on it's own.
Proponents
Although there are doctors and clinics that will administer hCG injections, very few, if any, have publicly come out in support of the diet.
The hCG website is full of customer testimonials without listing their last names, all declaring how the diet helped them lose weight.
Whenever a new, radical diet is being considered, the products and claims should be checked thoroughly, and always discussed with a respected and reputable physician. Mr. Trudeau has no training, education, or background in medicine, nutrition, or health, and his questionable background was fully discussed in a N.Y. Times article on August 28, 2005.
Extreme dietary changes, supplement programs, and drastic health regimes can be harmful. Professionals agree that exercise and healthy eating habits are the most effective and lasting ways to achieve weight loss.
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