Consumers Urged To Beware Of Popular HCG Diet

Jacqueline Sit, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, experts said there are ways to safely shed the pounds.

There is a popular fad diet that claims you can lose 40 pounds in 40 days. It's called the HCG diet. The idea claims it gets rid of fat in the normal problem areas or better known as love handles. But buyers beware; one local doctor said buying the product off the Internet or at a store may not work as well as you might think.

LaCrista Wright is one of many Oklahomans who made the New Year's resolution to drop the pounds.

"No amount of dieting, exercising, really seemed to show significant weight loss results, but with the HCG, it took the weight off all the right places," Wright said.

Wright has shed 50 pounds on the HCG diet, where she went on a 40-day diet, a round of injections and a low 500 calorie diet.

But shedding the weight safely is critical and one local doctor said watch out for HCG products in stores that make that claim.

"Yes, there's HCG in it, but it is so dilute that the amount of HCG actually there is not therapeutic, so the reason they're losing weight on the homeopathic is because they're on the 500 calorie diet," Medical Director of The Broadway Clinic, Dr. J. Arden Blough, said.

The bottle may tout you can burn the fat fast but Blough said, not so fast.

"I've tested this for people and they're so disappointed because they went out and spent $50, $70, $80, some spent $100, $200 on something that is absolutely not going to do them any good and I feel bad for them that they've done that," Blough said.

Blough said many of the HCG over-the-counter and World Wide Web buys are from third world countries and come in pills or injections, so buyers should beware.

"If you're getting an injectable, especially an injectable, with a contaminant in it, I mean, you're just playing Russian roulette," Blough said.

The Broadway Clinic in Oklahoma City is offering free tests to check if HCG products purchased through the Internet or stores really work.

The Broadway Clinic
1801 N. Broadway Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73103
M-F 8am-6pm
Saturday 8am-2pm
405/528-1936 

The HCG diet when done right is very closely monitored and doctors said being on a 500 calorie diet is very risky.

Health experts said the best way to shed the pounds is to eat healthy and exercise.