By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
March 23, 2010
A new Web site "inspired by" marketer Kevin
Trudeau's weight loss book "is on a mission to revive the thrill of losing weight," according to a press release issued Monday.
But users had better be prepared to subject themselves to regular injections of a controversial human hormone that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says has not been proven safe or effective. There's also the requirement of subsisting on no more than 500 calories per day, a near starvation diet.
Though liberally invoking Trudeau's name in the press release, the site NaturalcuresHCG.com, never specifically mentions Trudeau or his book, "The Weight Loss Cure," by name. In fact, the "About Us" section of the Web site doesn't mention who, exactly, is behind NaturalCuresHCG.com. The site does sell "kits" and provides instructions for mixing the HCG and injecting it.
HCG stands for "human chorionic gonadotrophin, a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. Its use as part of a radical weight loss program is nothing new.
More than a half century ago a British doctor came up with the theory that HCG injections would enable people trying to lose weight to get by on just 500 calories a day. The theory is that HCG would force fat stored in hips, waist and thighs to move through the body and be burned. However, there has never been any scientific evidence to support this claim.
People on the diet, however, are likely to lose weight, doctors say, not because of the HCG but because they are nearly starving themselves. So that weight loss can come at a steep health price. Some physicians have warned that a near starvation diet can result in the loss of not just fat, but protein from vital organs.
Disclaimer
Since 1975 the FDA has required companies marketing HCG diets and products to state in adverting and promotion:
"HCG has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity. There is no substantial evidence that it increases 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-restricted diets."
By the end of the 1970s use of HCG injections had just about died out, until revived by Trudeau in his 2007 book "The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You To Know About." Trudeau claimed the diet is an "absolute" cure for obesity, but has been suppressed for 50 years by the American Medical Association and the FDA.
NaturalcuresHCG.com provides mixing instruction, tips on selecting syringes, and sells a 23-day HCG kit for $175.
In nearly all of his books, Trudeau tells readers he is letting them in on "secrets" that a privileged elite wants to keep for itself. In other words, the information is so valuable that those who possess it don't want to share it.
"Previously these weight loss secrets were reserved only for the royal and the rich, but thanks to the recent launch of www.naturalcureshcg.com, weight loss is an accessible option for everyone," the press release states.
'They don't want you to know'
Trudeau has previously published "Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About," and "Debt Cures They Don't Want You To Know About." He is currently marketing a motivational/success seminar package called "Your Wish Is Your Command," which promises to reveal the secrets of success that, he says, have been closely guarded by elite groups for generations.
Most recently Trudeau was in a Chicago court, where a judge refused to give the pitchman permission to leave the country while he appealed his 30-day criminal contempt sentence. Trudeau ran afoul of U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman when he allegedly urged his supporters to flood the judge's computer and Blackberry with messages praising Trudeau's products.
