The hCG Diet - Results are Typical?

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I spent a couple months on one of the popular Omnitrition Facebook forums and wasted a month of my life on the hCG diet.

One phrase I saw over and over on the forum and all the Omnitrition spam online (the distributors are desperate to sell so that is why you see them pop up on new forums, spam and scram) was "Results are Typical."

Results are typical. Well, what results are they talking about? Here is one of the ads. I cropped out the 'amazing' weight loss photos and just left the text.



Wow, that's something. Omni cures cervical cancer, IBS, ovarian cysts, chronic fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, depression, bloating, high cholesterol and blood pressure, vitamin deficiencies, severe migraines, allergies, ashthma, eczema, psoriasis, diabetes, sleep apnea, lupus, fibromyalgia, thyroid, ADD, ADHD and you get to lose weight too!

Remember 'Results are Typical'.

So, is this a case of false advertising? What do you think? Here is the legal definition of false advertising:

"To establish that an advertisement is false, a plaintiff must prove five things: (1) a false statement of fact has been made about the advertiser's own or another person's goods, services, or commercial activity; (2) the statement either deceives or has the potential to deceive a substantial portion of its targeted audience; (3) the deception is also likely to affect the purchasing decisions of its audience; (4) the advertising involves goods or services in interstate commerce; and (5) the deception has either resulted in or is likely to result in injury to the plaintiff. The most heavily weighed factor is the advertisement's potential to injure a customer. "

Interesting, eh?

Now, just from my time on the Omni Facebook page (just based on the posts I saw before they were deleted) and stories I'm hearing from others who experienced this diet, I'll tell you what results seemed typical (well, at least more typical than the above results):

Hair loss and good amounts of it
Migraines and other severe headaches
depression
dizziness
hunger (very, very typical)
tiredness and fatigue
being irratable
bloating
constipation
heavy bleeding
spotting

Some others that may be more typical than the ones claimed:

blood clots
anemia
breast lumps
ovarian cysts
gallstones and gallbladder removal (happened to a distributor while I was doing the diet)
kidney stones
bladder infections

and, oh so much more. There are even posts online from people who believe this diet either led to cancer or progressed it quickly. I don't even want to get into the 'Safe for infants' thing.

So, you are an hCG groupie and you're sputtering, "But, but, but...not all that happened to me." Well, how about the Omni list above, did ALL of that happen to you?

Only difference is I'm not advertising a product. Plus I'm sharing my side effects and side effects of other people who have been through this diet but, most importantly, I'm not advertising a product. Seems like the 'Results are Typical' ads are misleading and could potentially lead to trouble for those using that phrase.


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