Diet Fad Spotlight: Perspective on the HCG Diet

From Your Weight Matters magazine, Spring, 2012: A history as old as man? Losing 60 pounds per month and keeping it off? The HCG Diet sounds phenomenal. Unfortunately, the thing you’re most likely to lose is weight from your wallet. The HCG Diet is the latest in a long line of fad diets whose outrageous claims are designed to prey on the hopes of people looking to lose weight and separate them from their money. HCG is a hormone produced during pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo after conception and later by part of the placenta. Touters claim HCG will increase weight loss and redistribute fat from the buttocks and thighs to different parts of the body. Find out how the HCG Diet fails to deliver under scientific scrutiny in an article from Your Weight Matters magazine here.

Authors: William Hignett, MPH, and Ted Kyle, RPh, MBA