[troutman]

http://www.healthandfitnessadvice.co...-barbaric.html

I have seen a lot of bad diets over the years, but hCG Diet sets the new standard for irresponsibility. If you thought 1000-1200 calories a day was tough to handle, your head will spin – and your stomach will growl – if you try to follow this 500 calorie a day torture test.

The fact that this diet is enjoying any kind of success and has garnered a following serves as proof that people have totally lost their way when it comes to feeding themselves. This is a barbaric, crude, savage, and inhuman diet. There are no good reason to abide by this nonsense. Stay away from it.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4813#more-4813

The ASBP recently issued an official policy statement that HCG does not work for weight loss and that the HCG diet is not recommended. The last speaker on the program challenged the ASBP’s position. He claimed that the “con” studies were flawed, that more studies are needed, and that meanwhile HCG should only be used by physicians with special training and expertise (like him). One of his slides said “It is OK to use a placebo;” he added the caveat “as long as it works.” That statement can be criticized both on the basis of the meaning of the word “placebo” and on the consensus of medical ethicists that using placebos is unethical.

http://www.asbp.org/siterun_data/abo...268715587.html

Numerous clinical trials have shown HCG to be ineffectual in producing weight loss. HCG injections can induce a slight increase in muscle mass in androgen-deficient males. The diet used in the Simeons method provides a lower protein intake than is advisable in view of current knowledge and practice. There are few medical literature reports favorable to the Simeons method; the overwhelming majority of medical reports are critical of it. Physicians employing either the HCG or the diet recommended by Simeons may expose themselves to criticism from other physicians, from insurers, or from government bodies.