You’ve just suffered a stroke, or what doctors medically call a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). The blood supply to your brain has been cut off, and now it’s an emergency. Your spouse calls 911, and gets you to the hospital right away. If you’re lucky, your symptoms will resolve spontaneously, or the doctors will be able to do treatments to restore the function of your limbs. What would you do if you couldn’t use your hand to write? Your leg to walk? Your mouth to speak?

Sudden paralysis is so devastating; it was originally described by Hippocrates as “Apolexy”, or to be “struck down by God with violence”. One of the most modifiable risk factors for stroke is hypertension, also known as high blood pressure. If you’ve ever been to a doctor’s office, you’ve probably had your blood pressure taken with an arm cuff. Your blood pressure is measured with two numbers, with 120 over 80 (written 120/80) considered to be normal (optimal). If your numbers are consistently over 140/90, your doctor will want to figure out why it is high and work with you to get it down. Treating hypertension adequately not only prevents strokes, it also can protect you from getting a heart attack, heart failure, arterial aneurysms, kidney failure, and blindness.

Although there are unusual causes of high blood pressure (adrenal tumors, etc.), 90-95% of all cases are classified as “essential hypertension”, with no one specific cause. Age is one risk factor. Just like a garden hose left sitting in the sun, with time, your arteries get stiffer. Being overweight means that you have not just more fat, but more arteries, veins, and capillaries too; all those extra blood vessels increases the resistance your heart has to pump against causing blood pressure to rise. A sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and stress all are risk factors for hypertension, as are deficiencies of potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Perhaps the most worrisome thing is that high blood pressure is often a precursor to diabetes, as insulin resistance causes both high blood pressure and sugar intolerance.

In addition to treating the causes of hypertension, you and your doctor will work to get your blood pressure in control. Taking 30 minutes of “un-responsible time” each day is good way to decrease your stress. A “DASH Diet” that is rich in vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy, lean meat, fish, poultry, nuts and beans, but limited in sugar-sweetened foods and beverages has been shown to drop blood pressure. Only dead things don’t move, so regular exercise, even if it is just walking briskly around the block each day, will also help.

Sometimes medications are needed. Although newer drugs such as Bystolic, Caduet, Diovan, Exforge, and Takturna are advertised heavily, other safe and effective medications such as HCTZ, Lisinopril, Losartan, Verapamil ER, and Metroprolol work just as well (or better). Why pay over $100 per month for a drug when there is an equally good medicine that only costs $4 to $10 per month?

Treating hypertension has contributed to the 50% decline in stroke and heart disease over the last 40 years. Being consistent with your treatment is easy to do when you know how important it is.

You didn’t expect this, but you knew you should have. Children of well-to-do families are more likely to binge drink, smoke weed, and score prescription meds to get high. We all know that teenagers lack self control. That, combined with their grandiose personalities (they feel like they know everything), and their impulsive style of problem solving, leads to “sensation seeking” behavior. High levels of screen time (computer and television), especially to “R” rated TV shows such as “Entourage”, increase craving and desire for drug use. But perhaps the biggest risk factor for your child’s drugging was your parental attitude of “passive” support of drugs. Don’t kid yourself. He knows where you store your stash.

Teen marijuana use is on the rise. According to the 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey (http://monitoringthefuture.org/), one-sixth of 8th graders have used drugs in the last year and one in sixteen 12th graders smoke pot on a daily basis. Not your kid? Your child may say, “I don’t”, but when checked by hair analysis, we see substantial underreporting of drug use. The social contagion effect is dramatic. For every 10% increase of close friends and classmates who use marijuana, the probability your child will use, increases by 5%. It’s true. Kids get high with a little help from their friends.

You might think marijuana is the “harmless” drug. It certainly doesn’t sound as bad as heroin, cocaine, or Oxycontin. But how safe is it? More teens drive drugged than drunk, and the resulting mental slowness doubles the risk of causing a fatal road accident. Even if your child doesn’t smoke, with 1 in 6 teens driving under the influence, can you be sure your daughter isn’t riding with a cannabis-impaired driver?

What is scarier is how marijuana messes with your head. Adolescence is a critical phase for brain development. Learning and memory are obviously impaired. Depression, panic attacks, and suicide attempts all increase with marijuana use. More frightening is that smoking pot as a teenager can cause schizophrenia. Now that’s what I call “messed up!”

As much as you would like to beat your kid to a pulp, harsh parenting backed by hypocritical actions (such as you smoking up) is not effective. The first thing to do to is to throw away your water-pipe. Better yet, with your child watching, smash it with a bowling ball or drive over it with your car. Rather than being neglectful, provide strong father (and mother) communication, that total abstinence is the rule. Remember, your child doesn’t need a buddy, he needs parents.

For the next three months you’ll ensure your son is home during mealtimes, so you can prevent him from going out on evenings to be exposed to marijuana or other drugs from his friends. You’ll keep him busy (and connected) with school, sports, or Sunday school. No cigarettes, alcohol or energy drinks either, as all three increase the risk for relapse.

Stop rewarding bad behavior. So what if you have tickets to that concert? Take someone else. When he shows that he’s more responsible, you’ll give him more freedom. Until then, short leash.

Hi Dr. Woliner,
Yesterday I had my annual ob/gyn exam and pap smear.  Since I was a new patient, the doctor went over my information and in the course of discussing HRT therapy, he asked me what I was using and I told him about the bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (bHRT) of estrogen and progesterone (which I get from a compounding pharmacy) that I was using on a daily basis.

His question to me was, “Why are you taking progesterone?” His comment was that the usage for it was the protection of the uterus (mine was removed many years ago). Am I taking it for other reasons, and if not, should I stop using progesterone and just take the estrogen?

Please review my file and advise me.  Thank you for taking the time to fully answer this question.

- J.K.

J.K.

It’s a good question.  Most doctors realize that when prescribing hormone replacement therapy that ”unopposed estrogen” (even bioidentical HRT), could induce uterine cancer in a postmenopausal women who still has a uterus.  So, doctors commonly prescribe a progestin (in this case, I prescribed bioidentical progesterone), to prevent that bad effect from happening.  But what if you don’t have a uterus anymore?  As you guessed in your e-mail, there are other reasons for taking progesterone.

Low progesterone levels cause classic symptoms including: Hot Flashes, Anxiety, and Insomnia.  In addition to those top 3 symptoms, progesterone insufficiency can cause:

• hot flashes
• insomnia
• anxiety
• fibroycystic breast disease
• water retention (such as swelling of ankles or fingers)
• fat weight gain (or trouble losing fat weight)
• low libido
• brain fog and poor concentration
• muscle aches
• dry skin or dry eyes
• hair loss or thinning
• osteoporosis and osteopenia (thin bones)

I have found that bHRT with Progesterone, though not specifically FDA approved for the conditions listed above,  to be very safe and effective for these symptoms.  Since you were having some insomnia and anxiety, I prescribed progesterone for you.

Bioidentical natural progesterone is not the same thing as Provera (genericname medoxyprogesterone).  Provera was compared head-to-head against natural progesterone and it was shown that Provera did not help alleviate these symptoms, but also caused the following bad side effects:

• osteoporosis
• breast cancer
• decreased HDL cholesterol and increased risk of heart disease
• weight gain

So, to answer your question, please stay on your progesterone so you don’t get a recurrence of your anxiety or sleep disturbances.

More information about the benefits of natural progesterone can be found at the following website:  http://www.johnleemd.com

- Dr. Woliner

This astounds me. hCG injections as an easy way to lose weight? Think again. It’s a scam, a fraud, a hoax, a deception.

I originally learned about the hCG diet when I studied as a Nutrition major at Cornell University. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy. It’s the very same hormone, in fact, that turns the stick blue on a home pregnancy test. Dr. Albert T.W. Simeons first described the use of hCG as a treatment for obesity in a case series published in 1954 [1]. The Simeons Method consisted of a rigid diet of only 500 calories per day for forty days, along with the abstinence from using any medications or skin care products, and daily deep intramuscular injections of 125 units of hCG. The treatment became popularly known in 1957, when Harper’s Bazaar printed the story, “Slimming: A Roman Doctor’s Treatment” where Dr. Simeons claimed hCG would redistribute fat from the waist, hips and thighs, and his patients weren’t hungry as long as they took shots of hCG [2].
When diet clinics (run by other physicians, not Dr. Simeons) started popping up in the 1970’s offering “The Simeons Method” and “The hCG Diet”, people lost weight, but they lost their hair too [3]. When patients realized how unhealthy the diet was, they resumed eating. Their weight came back, but for at least a few unfortunate souls, their hair did not [4, 5].
Starvation itself leads to a reduced appetite [6]. The 500-calorie (semi-starvation) diet caused loss of protein from vital organs. When other physicians tried to replicate Dr. Simeons’ results in double-blind studies, they realized that the shots didn’t do anything, and that weight loss was due to the diet alone [7]. Study after study was published showing that the injections were just expensive placebos [8-13].

In 1976, the FTC ordered the diet clinics to stop their false and misleading advertising [14]. Though they couldn’t stop doctors from using hCG (the FDA allows hCG to be used for infertility treatments), it did make them disclose to every patient the following:

THESE WEIGHT REDUCTION TREATMENTS INCLUDE THE INJECTION OF HCG, A DRUG WHICH HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION AS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE IN THE TREATMENT OF OBSITY OR WEIGHT CONTROL. THERE IS NO SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE THAT HCG INCEASES WEIGHT LOSS BEYOND THAT RESULTING FROM CALORIC RESTRICTION, THAT IT CAUSES A MORE ATTRACTIVE OR “NORMAL” DISTRIBUTION OF FAT, OR THAT IT DECREASES THE HUNGER AND DISCOMFORT ASSOCIATED WITH CALORIE-RESTRICTIVE DIETS.

Negative studies and government action reduced the use of hCG injections for weight control close to zero [15]. Why the recent resurgence in clinics advertising hCG shots and sublingual drops? Thank Kevin Trudeau and his 2007 book, The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About [16].

Kevin Trudeau is a two-time convicted felon (impersonating a doctor and forging checks, and identity theft by stealing names and Social Security numbers, applying for credit cards and running up huge charges) who also happens to be one heck of a salesman [17]. His favorite marketing tool is the “infomercial,” a lengthy television advertisement that takes the form of a mock interview [18]. Through this medium Mr. Trudeau has sold various worthless products that he claimed could: cure numerous diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, substance abuse addictions, and arthritis (among many others); “hair farming” (a cure for balding); improve memory; and cause dramatic and permanent weight loss [19]. In 2004, the FTC won a permanent injunction prohibiting Mr. Trudeau from producing or disseminating infomercials with one narrow exception, for First Amendment reasons, he was still allowed to talk about his books [20].

Misleading commercial speech is entitled to no First Amendment protection however, so in 2007, the FTC charged Kevin Trudeau with violating a court order by misrepresenting the contents of the book [21]. In infomercials, Trudeau falsely claimed that the book’s weight-loss plan is easy to do, can be done at home, and ultimately allows readers to eat whatever they want. The hCG diet as described in his book, however, states that for the rest of your life, you can never use a microwave, never consume any chain restaurant food, avoid all artificial sweeteners, eat 100% organic food, exercise outside at least one hour a day, and among other things, periodically do colonic irrigation. In 2008, the Court ruled that his book was merely an advertisement for his website and newsletter, at a cost of $71 per month, that Trudeau had violated the previous order for making false claims, and ordered Trudeau to pay $37.6 million, the amount paid by consumers he defrauded [22].

The hCG diet is now being advertised everywhere as it is very lucrative for the physician and pharmacy to sell you worthless medication (that is often misbranded knockoffs from China and India) [23]. It still doesn’t work, but I guess the MIT study was right, expensive placebos are more convincing that cheap placebos [24]. The American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) has put forth a position statement that the hCG diet doesn’t work, is potentially dangerous, and isn’t recommended [25]. You might consider people that try the hCG diet to just be desperate to lose weight, but the state attorney would more likely classify them as victims of unscrupulous clinicians.

No one likes to be played for a fool. Dr. G. Michael Steelman, editor of the American Journal of Bariatric Medicine stated at the ASBP annual conference in November 2010, “This is going to explode, just like phen/fen [26].” I have to agree.

The State of Louisiana has already banned the use of hCG in the treatment of obesity [27]. I predict that in 2011, the FTC will come down on everyone and anyone advertising the hCG diet for violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act [28]. The FDA will send warning letters telling clinics and pharmacies that if they do not cease and desist from unsubstantiated claims, they will be subject to raids from the DEA for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [29]. And the Florida medical board will reprimand any clinician offering hCG weight loss treatments for making deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in or related to the practice of a profession or employing a trick or scheme in or related to the practice of a profession [30].

In the meantime, what does my receptionist say when prospective patients ask whether we offer the hCG diet? “We’ve looked at it, we’ve studied it, we’ve compared the data, and we get better results without the added cost of hCG.”

To learn about one of my patient’s run-in’s with this diet, read my article, Case of The hCG Diet Hoax.

[1] Simeons AT. The action of chorionic gonadotrophin in the obese. Lancet. 1954
Nov 6;267(6845):946-7. [2] Fraser L. Ten Pounds in Ten Days – A Sampler of Diet Fads and Abuse. In Fraser L. Losing It: False Hopes and Fat Profits in the Diet Industry. New York, NY: Plume; 1998. [3] Blackburn GL, Bistrian BR, Hoag C. Letter: Hair loss with rapid weight loss. JAMA. 1976 Jul 19;236(3):252. [4] Dulloo AG, Jacquet J, Girardier L. Poststarvation hyperphagia and body fat overshooting in humans: a role for feedback signals from lean and fat tissues. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Mar;65(3):717-23. [5] Goette DK, Odom RB. Alopecia in crash dieters. JAMA. 1976 Jun 14;235(24):2622-3. [6] Andik I, Donhoffer S, Moring I, Szentes J. The effect of starvation on food intake and selection. Acta Physiol Hung. 1951;2(3-4):363-8. [7] Sohar E. A forty-day-550 calorie diet in the treatment of obese outpatients. Am J Clin Nutr. 1959 Sep-Oct;7:514-8. [8] Frank BW. The use of chorionic gonadotrophin hormone in the treatment of obesity. A double-blind study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1964;14:133–136. [9] Stein M, Julis R, Peck C, Hinshaw W, Sawicki J, Deller J, Jr. Ineffectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin in weight reduction: a double-blind study. Am J Clin Nutr 1976; 29:940-948. [10] Young RL, Fuchs RJ, Woltjen MJ. Chorionic Gonadotropin in Weight Control: A Double-Blind Crossover Study. JAMA 1976; 236:2495-2497. [11] Greenway FL, Bray GA. Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity: a critical assessment of the Simeons method. West J Med 1977;127:461-463. [12] Bosch B, Venter I, Stewart RI, Bertram SR. Human chorionic gonadotrophin and weight loss. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. S Afr Med J 1990;77:185-189. [13] Lijesen GK, Theeuwen I, Assendelft WJ, Van Der Wal G. The effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity by means of the Simeons therapy: a criteria based meta-analysis. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1995;40:237-243. [14] Federal Trade Commission Decisions. Complaint in the matter of Simeon Management Corporation et al. Order, opinion etc., in regard to alleged violation of Secs. 5 and 12 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Docket 8996. Complaint, Oct 15, 1974. Final Order April 29, 1976. [15] Barrett, Stephen. HCG Worthless as Weight-Loss Aid. http://www.dietscam.org/reports/hcg.shtml Accessed November 21, 2010. [16] Trudeau K. The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About. Birmingham, AL: Alliance Publishing; 2007. [17] Warner, M. After Jail and More, Salesman Scores Big With Cure-All Book. NY Times. August 28, 2005. [18] Wikipedia – “Kevin Trudeau”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Trudeau accessed November 21, 2010. [19] Barrett, S. Kevin Trudeau Found In Contempt of Court Again. http://www.casewatch.org/ftc/enforcements/trudeau/book/contempt.shtml accessed November 21, 2010. [20] Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials For Three Years, Ordered to Pay More Than $5 Million for False Claims About Weight-Loss Book. October 6, 2008. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/10/trudeau.shtm accessed November 21, 2010. [21] Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n, 447 U.S. 557, 562-63 (1980). [22] Judge Orders Kevin Trudeau to Pay More Than $37 Million for False Claims About Weight-Loss Book. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/01/trudeau.shtm accessed November 21, 2010. [23] Barrett, S. Illegal HCG Seized at Naturopathic Clinic. http://www.casewatch.org/doj/marschall/warrant_application.shtml accessed November 21, 2010. [24] Waber RL, Shiv B, Ariely D. Commercial Features of Placebo and Therapeutic Efficacy. JAMA. 2008;299(9):1016-1017. [25] American College of Bariatric Physicians. Position statement: Use of HCG in the treatment of obesity. Approved Dec 2009. [26] Steelman GM. hCG: A Debate. American Society of Bariatric Physicians. 60th Annual Obesity & Associated Conditions Symposium. New Orleans, LA. November 10-14th, 2010. [27] Louisiana Statutes. Chapter 69. Prescription, Dispensation, and Administration of Medications. Subchapter A. Medications Used in the Treatment of Obesity. §§6901-6913. [28] Federal Trade Commission Act 15 U.S.C §§ 41-58. [29] Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq. [30] Florida Statutes 456.072 (a)(m)(n)(gg); 457.109 (d)(k)(n); 458.331 (d)(k)(n)(o)(q)(u)(ee)(qq); 459.015 (d)(r)(t)(y)(ii)(ss); 460.413 (d)(k)(n)(p)(s); 468.518 (g)(h)(m)(n); 465.016 and 465.024.

“I’ve been called a ‘medical detective’ because I look for causes of disease rather than simply covering up symptoms [1]. How can I help you?”

“I think I’ve been tired all my life. When I went to my internist, all he could find wrong was high cholesterol. He prescribed Lipitor. I got the worst muscle aches and had to stop. He then told me to lose weight so I tried this crash hCG diet everyone talks about. I lost half my hair, but also got constipated, so the GI prescribed Miralax. Being desperate, I started working with this naturopath, but …”

“But what?”

“I felt like I was being scammed. He looked at my blood under a microscope and said I have parasites and needed to do a heavy metal cleanse [2]. After a ‘hard sell’, he convinced me to pay him almost $13,000 for a package of various tests, supplements, and prescriptions. I got suspicious when I saw another doctor’s name on the pill bottle they dispensed to me.”
“You are right to be concerned. This juicer (bodybuilder) isn’t a doctor at all; he’s just a con artist who is practicing medicine without a license.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I can hardly believe it myself. When I found out that he was trafficking in anabolic steroids, I was required to report him and the doctor that aids and abets him to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO).”

I continued, “The scary thing is that he’s not the only one. A massage therapist a few blocks north also plays doctor by using someone else’s DEA # to dispense human growth hormone (HGH) [3]. And there are now dozens of diet clinics opening up where “health coaches” are seeing patients and dispensing the prescription drug hCG without you ever being seen by a doctor. Those actions are all felonies! [4]”

“So why haven’t they been arrested?”

“I don’t know. I’m a doctor, not a police officer. All I can say, however, is that you don’t need to do a heavy metal cleanse or inject that HGH he sold you.”

“What do I need?”

“You need to have a thorough evaluation by a board-certified physician that will actually listen to your symptoms and perform a physical exam. By being out-of-network with insurance companies, I can spend 80-plus minutes with you to gather your complete history. From what I’ve heard so far, you sure sound like you have hypothyroidism.”

“That’s what I thought, but my doctors all said my lab tests were normal!”

“Fatigue, high cholesterol, constipation, and weight gain are all symptoms of an under-active thyroid [5]. From across the room I can see your thin eyebrows and swelling of your face, forearms, and ankles [6]. Let me finish my exam and order a more comprehensive set of labs to find out what is really going on.”

Cami came back two weeks later to go over her labs. “What’s with all these frowny faces all over my reports?”

“When you are outside the reference range, the lab will put an ‘H’ or an ‘L’ next to your lab value. To make it easier for my patients to understand, I handwrite in smiley faces for everything that is okay, and frowns next to tests that show why you feel so crummy. The low T3 combined with the elevated thyroid antibodies cinch the diagnosis [7]. You have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that we have potentially found the cause of your symptoms, and when treated properly, lots of things will get better.”

Instead of forcing Cami to buy her medicine from my office, I wrote a prescription that she got filled at Costco for less than $10 per month [8]. Her energy level went up as her weight and cholesterol went down. A few months later, she returned for a semi-annual checkup.

“I don’t think you’re like Dr. House at all. You might be a great diagnostician, but you’re a whole lot nicer!”

1. Boca Magazine. January 2006.
2. Barrett, Stephen. Live Blood Cell Analysis: Another Gimmick to Sell You Something. Dec 29, 2005. www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Tests/livecell.html
3. Florida Dept of Health – License Verification System – License Number: MA17127.
4. Florida Statutes, 456.065(2)(d).
5. Michalopoulou G, et al. High serum cholesterol levels in persons with ‘high-normal’ TSH levels: should one extend the definition of subclinical hypothyroidism? Eur J Endocrinol. 1998 Feb;138(2):141-5. http://eje-online.org/cgi/reprint/138/2/141
6. Reilly WA. Hypothyroidism – Latent Symptoms. Cal West Med. 1943 Feb;58(2):73-5. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1780321/pdf/calwestmed00504-0020.pdf
7. Toulis KA, et al. Selenium supplementation in the treatment of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Thyroid. 2010 Oct;20(10):1163-73. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=20883174%20
8. Costco pricing information. Armour Thyroid. www.costco.com Accessed March, 22, 2011.

Marie was the classic yo-yo dieter. Up and down, up and down. No matter how much weight she lost, Marie would always go up again.

“Yes, I believe I can. The difference between what I do and a fad diet is that I look for the medical reasons of your weight gain, and treat them appropriately. So, what have you tried in the past to lose weight?”

“What haven’t I tried you mean! I’m a sucker for whatever diet craze that is the latest rage. Weight Watchers, Curves, Atkins, Allí – I’ve tried them all [1]. I even bought Kevin Trudeau’s book about the hCG diet [2]. What a disaster that was!”

“How so?”

“I went to a clinic that specialized in the hCG diet. They made me buy overpriced prescriptions from them and then starved me on less than 500 calories per day. I lost weight, but I lost my hair too! My dermatologist said it’s finally coming back in, but it’ll be years before I get the length I used to have [3]. I hate this ‘mom cut’ I’m forced to wear!”

“hCG is the latest diet fad, but it isn’t new. The FTC shut down diet clinics in the 1970’s for their false and deceptive advertising [4]. hCG doesn’t help people be any less hungry, lose any more weight, or specifically target certain areas of fat like they claim [5]. It’s just an expensive placebo, but I guess enough time has gone by for a whole new generation to fall prey to this scam again [6]. Louisiana has already made it illegal to use hCG for weight loss, and the Florida Board of Medicine would discipline any physician they knew that prevented his patients from using a pharmacy of their own choice [7,8].”

“Actually, they’re already out of business. Even though hCG is a potentially dangerous medication, they were selling it without a doctor’s prescription. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office charged the clinic owner with a 3rd degree felony for practicing medicine without a license.”

“It’s a scary world out there. In 2003, the FDA shut down someone that was illegally selling weed killer on the Internet as a reducing pill [9]. It caused quick weight loss, but it also caused rapidly progressing blindness and death. His victims literally cooked to death!”

“I’ve checked out your reputation on www.vitals.com, so I know you’re legit. What are we going to do next?”

“After I finish my 80-minute comprehensive history and physical exam, I want to check your basal metabolic rate [10]. Yo-yo dieting, hypothyroidism, and insulin resistance can all slow down your metabolism making it all but impossible to lose weight. The Korr Metabolic Cart will tell us exactly how many calories you are burning, so we can tailor a reducing program specifically to you.”

Marcie’s metabolism was indeed low, confirmed by blood tests that showed a “Reverse T3 Phenomenon”, perhaps caused by the stress of crash dieting [11]. With proper nutrition and targeted nutraceuticals, however, her metabolic rate recovered and she was finally able to lose weight.

Three months and 15 pounds lighter, Marie was glowing. “My hair’s finally long enough to put into a pony tail!”

To learn more about the hCG Diet hoax and the dangers it poses to your health, read our newer article, The Hidden Dangers of  The hCG Diet.

[1] Fraser L. Ten Pounds in Ten Days – A Sampler of Diet Fads and Abuse. In Fraser L. Losing It: False Hopes and Fat Profits in the Diet Industry. New York, NY: Plume; 1998. [2] Judge Orders Kevin Trudeau to Pay More Than $37 Million for False Claims About Weight-Loss Book. www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/01/trudeau.shtm accessed November 21, 2010. [3] Goette DK, Odom RB. Alopecia in crash dieters. JAMA. 1976 Jun 14;235(24):2622-3. [4] Federal Trade Commission Decisions. Complaint in the matter of Simeon Management Corporation et al. Order, opinion etc., in regard to alleged violation of Secs. 5 and 12 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Docket 8996. Complaint, Oct 15, 1974. Final Order April 29, 1976. [5] Stein M, Julis R, Peck C, Hinshaw W, Sawicki J, Deller J, Jr. Ineffectiveness of human chorionic  gonadotropin in weight reduction: a double-blind study. Am J Clin Nutr 1976; 29:940-948. [6] Barrett, Stephen. HCG Worthless as Weight-Loss Aid. www.dietscam.org/reports/hcg.shtml Accessed November 21, 2010. [7] Louisiana Statutes. Chapter 69. Prescription, Dispensation, and Administration of Medications. Subchapter A. Medications Used in the Treatment of Obesity. §§6901-6913. [8] Florida Statutes 458.331(1)(o). [9] FDA Office of Criminal Investigation. DNP Promoter Receives 60 Month Prison Sentence. www.fda.gov/ICECI/default.htm [10] Dobratz JR, Sibley SD, Beckman TR, Valentine BJ, Kellogg TA, Ikramuddin S, Earthman CP. Predicting energy expenditure in extremely obese women. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2007 May-Jun;31(3):217-27. [11] Barrows K, Snook JT. Effect of a high-protein, very-low-calorie diet on resting metabolism, thyroid hormones, and energy expenditure of obese middle-aged women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1987 Feb;45(2):391-8. Information about hCG can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_chorionic_gonadotropin