The HCG Diet: Helpful or Harmful?

As some of you may remember, a few months ago I posted an article about the HCG diet. I ended the article with this quote by Dr. John Schwartzberg, chair of the editorial board of the University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, “ the HCG diet is complete quackery”. With its renewed popularity, however, I continue to get a lot of questions about it so I thought it was time for an update.

The FDA has gotten involved, saying that the diet goes beyond quackery and is potentially dangerous. HCG, a hormone that is produced by the placenta during pregnancy, has been touted to help people lose a lot of weight rapidly, but it is used along with an extremely low 500 calorie diet .While the promoters of the diet suggest that the weight loss experienced is the result of the HCG, Elizabeth Miller, acting director of the FDA’s Division of Non Prescription Drugs and Health Fraud, says “the date simply doesn’t support this; any loss is from severe caloric restriction, not the HCG.” Shirley Blake, nutritionist at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition says that such restrictive diets “can be dangerous, and potentially fatal.”  

While there are many HCG products on the market for weight control, none have been approved by the FDA, so the sale those products in stores or online is illegal.

Watch the video below for more on the FDA’s position concerning HCG products.