KOAM TV 7 Joplin and PittsburgHCG Diet: Healthy or hype?

HCG Diet: Healthy or hype?

The HCG diet is gaining popularity in the Four States but is it worth it?

The diet requires taking the HCG hormone, which is secreted during pregnancy.  Dieters must also maintain a restrictive, low calorie diet.

There are two different forms of the HCG:  prescription strength and over the counter drops.

The FDA has banned over the counter HCG products because there has been no clinical proof that it works.

But Four State resident Melissa Smith disagrees with these findings.

"You get on the scale after you start the drops, or however you choose to do it, and you lose all that weight immediately and then you continue to lose a pound a day and so I think my motivation was getting on the scale every morning and seeing that I'd lost another pound," Smith says.

Reporter Angela Hartman takes a closer look at the diet.

In Part 1, a medical professional gives his input on whether the HCG diet really works.

WATCH PART 1 (aired February 6, 2012)

In Part 2, explore the differences between prescription strength and over the counter HCG.  We'll also explain why the FDA wants to see sales of HCG come to an end.

WATCH PART 2 (aired February 6, 2012)