Take a “natural” hormone that the body produces during pregnancy – and lose a massive amount of weight? This promise has made the hCG diet, named after the hormone, a never-ending hype. Proponents of the hCG diet claim that hCG changes the metabolism in such a way that you can lose up to half a kilo a day on an extremely low-calorie diet without feeling hungry or weak. Anyone who has ever dieted knows that there are useful methods for losing weight, for example a balanced diet and exercise. But there are also more radical methods. These include various diet products that promise quick weight loss but contain potentially dangerous ingredients or recommend practices that are harmful to health. One example is slimming products containing HCG, which are marketed with the recommendation to follow a particularly strict diet. HCG is a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy. Weight loss products containing hCG are usually marketed in conjunction with a very low calorie diet, where calorie intake is limited to 500 calories per day. Many of these popular hCG products advertise a “change in metabolism”, a “change in abnormal eating habits” and weight loss of 10 to 20 kilograms in […] read more