Dieters are streaming into weight-loss clinics across the country, paying upward of $1,000 a month for consultation and supply of HCG hormone for losing weight. Doctor charges from $400 to $1500 for an HCG diet program. The charges include hormone and syringes, monitoring and examination. HCG injections are often costly and require a doctor’s supervision. The HCG diet program includes daily shots of HCG hormone with a near-starvation diet. Dieters are usually tempted by claims that they will drop about a pound every day without any hungry feeling. Many have noticed people losing a significant amount of excess weight with hCG and you simply cannot ignore that.
FDA had issues warning in January that “homeopathic” forms of HCG which are widely sold over the Internet and in some health stores are fraudulent and illegal if they are selling as weight loss aids. FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have issued several warning letters to companies warning them that they are selling illegal homeopathic HCG weight-loss drugs that have not been approved by FDA.
HCG Diet Expert Opinions and Reviews
The use of hCG as a diet tool was “manipulating people to provide them with the sense that they’re getting something that’s potent, powerful and effective, and in fact it is nothing better than a placebo.” Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard medical school.
According to Kristen Smith, a bariatric surgery dietitian at Montefiore Medical Center that an average person needs about 1,800 to 3,000 calories and there are nutritional issues for a diet that mimic anorexia.
“Whenever you give someone a shot, it has a tremendous placebo effect,” said Dr. Louis Arrone, director of the comprehensive weight control program at New York Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Hospital.
“For starters – it’s the 500-calorie diet that is resulting in individuals to lose weight,” said Dr. Melina Jampolis, CNN’s diet and fitness expert. Getting such few calories a day is unsafe, she said, because the dieter is not getting the necessary nutrients.
According Jennifer K. Nelson who is a registered dietitian with Mayo Clinic, individuals who stick to this type of very low calorie diet will likely to lose weight, at the very least for a while. Nevertheless, that level of calorie constraint has many health risks.
