Washington – Feds Crack Down On Homeopathic Weight Loss Remedy

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    fileWashington – Federal regulators are ordering several companies to stop selling an unproven weight loss remedy that uses protein from the human placenta.

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    The Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to seven companies that sell the protein as drops, pellets or sprays. Human chorionic gonadotropin is produced by the placenta and found in the urine of pregnant women. While it is approved for certain infertility treatments, the FDA says there is no evidence it helps reduce weight.

    Many of the products cited in the warning letters claim to change “abnormal eating patterns,” and help people lose 20 to 30 pounds in as little as a month when used with a low-calorie diet, usually around 500 calories per day.

    Health experts say such restrictive diets can be dangerous.

    “These products are marketed with incredible claims and people think that if they’re losing weight, HCG must be working,” said Elizabeth Miller, of FDA’s division for non-prescription drugs and health fraud, in a statement. “But the data simply does not support this — any loss is from severe calorie restriction. Not from the HCG.”

    The products are advertised as homeopathic remedies, or highly diluted drugs made from natural ingredients and sold with medical claims. Many doctors view homeopathic remedies as ineffective but mostly harmless because the drugs in them are present in such tiny amounts.

    But the FDA said the products targeted Tuesday could be dangerous when taken as directed.

    Homeopathic treatments are based on principles unverified by mainstream science, and often reference mystical-sounding concepts like “vital force” and “healing energy.”

    In 1938, Congress passed a law granting homeopathic remedies the same legal status as regular pharmaceuticals. The law’s principal author was Sen. Royal Copeland of New York, a trained homeopath.

    While regulation of the products is minimal, the FDA maintains a list of approved ingredients that can be used for homeopathic drugs. HCG is not among the approved ingredients.

    After decades of declining use, homeopathic remedies have revived in recent decades with the burst of interest in vitamins, herbs and other unconventional treatments.

    The companies cited by regulators have 15 days to respond and detail how they intend to remove their products from the market. Failure to do so may result in legal action, including seizure and injunction, or criminal prosecution.


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    12 Comments
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    qazxc
    qazxc
    12 years ago

    About time the government started cracking down on these charlatans. Nothing but snake oil salesmen.

    ohdear
    ohdear
    12 years ago

    It may be the placebo effect, but let me tell you I have tried every diet under the sun. and what HHCG does works, I dont know how I dont know why but it works. And thousands swear by it, including myself. Cracking down on false advertisement is one thing but debunking something that clearly works without solid evidence is irresponsible especially with abesote and health care costs skyrocketing. most honest sites will clearly tell you that they do not know why it works, they just know it works. Number 1 clearly you have never tried this “SNAKE OIL” Ive lost almost 25 lbs in 6 weeks and have kept it off. so enjoy carrying around your OIL, and lets get the government to do some serious studies on how this stuff works

    HaNavon
    HaNavon
    12 years ago

    There’s nothing homeopathic about HCG, it’s a hormone.
    Homeopathy is a baseless pseudoscience that was ‘invented’ by Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century, in which water is exposed to less than 1 part per million of a substance, shaken, then mixed with more water, shaken again, then dried. This is scientifaccly impossible to help anything, ever!
    HCG on the other hand is an actual hormone, the chiral analog to the luteinizing hormone produced by the pituitary in order to stimulate the production of testosterone and progesterone.
    I know many people who have injected it along with human growth hormones, and have lost weight, gotten more youthful and looked healthy on this, but they all gained it back after they stopped.
    It’s probably a bad idea to mess around with hormones unless you have a deficiency.

    12 years ago

    The whole thing is bogus ….as all other diets are.
    Quick weight losses never work in the long run…Been there, tried it…back to square one. Without training your mind to eliminate the wrong foods from your diet, you will end up exactly where you started.Considering that there were hundreds of diets and diet books out there in the past couple of years, we would be looking at a country populated with slim people, no less. However, having said that, there still seems to be a major problem in America today, as per Michelle Obama…and that is that we are an overweight society and not the opposite.
    When will people wake up and see that the marketing of all these books, diets etc…is a way to make someone rich….and you poor,by investing and believing that “this one will work”… it will…if you stick to it for the rest of your life..Otherwise there is only one solution to loosing and maintaining..A diet where the major group on the pyrimad is fruits and veggies, protein….some carbs…limited whole grains.. unsaturated fats…as in olive oil…and lots of water to keep your body hydrated.
    I’m happy to see that the FDA is finally cracking down on all these charlatans!

    smile2me
    smile2me
    12 years ago

    I was on, and currently on a HHCG diet and will say that it is positively amazing. after the 40+ days of 500 calorie diet, I have been eating 1600-2500 calories a day and have not gained a single ounce back! its 6 weeks later. I have not been exercising anymore than I have in the past.

    “been there done that”- you being back to square one is compliance problem not the diets problem. there are many individuals that even with gastric bypass/banding that do not lose weight or regain it for the same reason. I say we should Stop the procedure!! let the FDA work on all the medication that they approve that either doesn’t work or has enough side effects to deem the medication unworthy!

    12 years ago

    I need to lose a nice chunk of weight before my son’s chassuneh. As much as I’ve been tempted I know better, so I am cutting out the sugars & fats, drinking my water & trying to exercise more. What will be will be and at least I’m being sensible.

    I don’t really understand this, but it is something to think about. The level of HCG hormone in a woman’s body should be below 5. My niece has levels of 14,000. She started chemo this week. You may want to re-think quackery.

    BTW: starving on 500 calories will make you lose weight without shpritzing female hormones into your system.

    qazxc
    qazxc
    12 years ago

    At 1,600 – 2,000 per day of course you aren’t putting back any weight. It has nothing to do with this snake oil and cod liver concoction. It is simple math.

    I’ve been on many diets to shed 40 – 50 lbs and several worked until they became unsustainable over the long term. The only thing that finally worked was dropping fifty pounds S L O W L Y by changing my eating and lifestyle habits. Less elevators, more steps, no circling the parking lot of the gym looking for the closest spot (while finishing a snack ‘just to give me energy to exercise’) etc.

    Bad habits cause bad health. Habits aren’t changed overnight.

    Reb Yid
    Reb Yid
    12 years ago

    Aside from the fact that the scientists say that homeopathy is hogwash, people should be aware that both Rav Blumenkrantz zatzal and Rav Tendler ybl”ch hold this is possibly avodah zarah, since it relies on non-scientific, “spiritual” forms of healing. The same, they hold, goes for reflexology, Reike, etc.