Take a "natural" hormone the body makes during pregnancy -- and lose a lot of weight? That's the promise that's…
Take a “natural” hormone the body makes during pregnancy — and lose a lot of weight? That’s the promise that’s turned the hCG Diet — named after that hormone — into a craze that just won’t quit. If you also go on an ultra-low-calorie diet, backers claim, hCG can “reset your metabolism” so you lose as much as a pound a day without feeling hungry or weak.
Here’s what the science says: Any super-low-cal diet will result in weight loss. Most studies have found that hCG (stands for human chorionic gonadotropin) has nothing to do with it.
The hCG diet limits you to 500 calories a day for 8 weeks while taking hCG, either by getting a shot or by taking a “homeopathic” product, such as oral drops, pellets, or sprays, which you can buy at the store.
None of this is approved by the FDA for weight loss. The shots themselves are legal, as long as a health care provider gives them to you. (They’re approved to treat fertility issues.) But over-the-counter hCG products are not. The FDA has sent warning letters to several companies that market homeopathic hCG products.