Joint action is first step in halting sale of the products

Lowcarbfriends, a popular lowcarb bulletin board, established a support forum for the HCG diet about a year ago. This coincided with Netrition, the company that owns Lowcarbfriends, starting to sell the homeopathic hhCG drops and pellets.

Netrition’s response to the FDA/FTC action was to declare:

Netrition has not been contacted by the FDA but will comply with all FDA rules and regulations. Therefore, we are removing all marketing text from all of the HCG products that we sell.
As of this moment, we will continue to sell HCG products but be advised that HCG products could be taken off the market at any time. If this is a concern to you, you may want to stock up as soon as possible.

Now, I’m sure that FDA and FTC know that the actual drops and pellets are harmless as they don’t actually contain any HCG. However,

The labeling for the “homeopathic” HCG products states that each product should be taken in conjunction with a very low calorie diet. There is no substantial evidence HCG increases weight loss beyond that resulting from the recommended caloric restriction. Consumers on a very low calorie diet are at increased risk for side effects including gallstone formation, electrolyte imbalance, and heart arrhythmias.

The prescribed “very low calorie diet” for hhCG consists of 500 calories of low fat and relatively low carb foods. Considering the controversy that surrounded the Kimkins diet, another starvation diet that was initially also sponsored by Lowcarbfriends, you would think that they would know that such a diet is not healthy. In case you don’t recall, you can read about it on Kimkins Survivors.

Following the HCG forum on Lowcarbfriends over some time, there has been many reports of similar adverse effects as previously reported for Kimkins. The non-existent HCG in the homeopathic hhCG will not protect against damage from an extreme low calorie diet, no matter how much you believe in homeopathy. FDA is asking anybody that has suffered adverse affects due to hhCG use to report it on MedWatch.

While I do not believe that the hhCG drops and pellets do any harm, I find it sad to see how people now rush to “stock up” before they are taken off the market, and the suppliers, like Netrition, take advantage of this panic in order to increase sales.

I just wish people would stop looking for a magic pill and pay scammers in the process. As a rule, a quick weight loss is always followed by an even quicker weight regain. Find a diet that is sustainable in the long run. Starvation is not a good thing and may cause irreversible damage.

Who wouldn’t lose weight on 500 calories per day?

But the hCG proponents insist that the hCG helps suppressing appetite so that it’s easy to eat such a small amount of food. Again, a 500 calorie diet will do that in itself. Just ask the people that starved themselves doing Kimkins. It is also a well known fact that even with water fasting (zero calories) you are no longer hungry after the initial 2 – 4 days. 500 calories is not that much different, especially as they are low carb.

The true HCG injections need to be prescribed by a doctor. Or someone that claims to be a doctor. Internet “consultations” are becoming more common and you don’t really know who is at the other end.  Not all people want to give themselves injections and they are also costly. Consequently a new alternative has emerged, which reportedly is equally efficient: Homeopathic hCG.

Homeopathic hCG (hhCG) is sold as a liquid or spray. 10 – 15 drops, or sprays, under the tongue, 3 – 4 times per day are supposed to provide the same results as hCG injections. Provided that the 500 calorie diet is followed.

I knew nothing about Homeopathy so I started searching. The hhCG drops are labeled 6X, 12X, 30X, 60X. One 2 oz bottle, sufficient for 23 days of 500 calorie starvation, sells for as high as $140 or as low as $15. It isn’t obvious if the more expensive brands are more efficient. They are all called the same – homeopathic hCG.

I also did not know what the 6X, 12X, etc. numbers meant. One hHCG proponent explained it as:

The numbers refer to the number of times the original substance was micro-diluted and succussed. Each level of dilution according to homeopathic principals has a slightly different energy signature. The higher the number, the more times the item has been diluted and put through the process. According to the laws of homeopathy, higher numbers of dilution are actually stronger. (Which isn’t always better, some people respond better to one potency than another.) So by making a combination remedy that includes potencies of 6x, 12x, 30x, 60x, the remedy will have a slightly broader spectrum effect than one with just 12x, 30x, 60x. If it was me, I’d get the one with the broader spectrum, all other things being equal, because it also includes that lower number base.

Wikipedia has a longer explanation that basically says the same.

From this, I understand that the 6X means that the original liquid (hCG?) is diluted 1 part to 1,000,000. The 60X would be 1 to 10^60. Sufficient to say, there is not a single molecule of the original substance in the resulting hhCG.

But apparently that is the idea with homeopathy:

Some homeopathic remedies are so diluted, no molecules of the healing substance remain. Even with sophisticated technology now available, analytical chemists may find it difficult or impossible to identify any active ingredient. But the homeopathic belief is that the substance has left its imprint or a spirit-like essence that stimulates the body to heal itself.

The reason most commonly offered today by homeopathic proponents is the remedy’s solution has a “memory” of the original substance. What is this memory? Homeopaths say it is electromagnetic waves of the active ingredient it once contained. They say that vigorous shaking between each dilution make this memory possible.

Memory? Imprint or spirit-like essence? Really?

The special shaking action or potentizing used in homeopathy separates the etheric fields from their material substance. The latter is then discarded and the former concentrated. These concentrated etheric fields are much more potent in this way than when they were combined with matter.

Really?

So this homeopathic hCG does not contain any hCG at all. Isn’t it misleading to call it hCG? Apparently not according to homeopathic rules.

I wonder if snake oil has anything from a snake in it?