"Secret Diet Drops"

Weight loss is one of the most popular New Year's Resolutions. In fact, two thirds of all people in the UK are on a diet at any given time, and there's no denying that people would like to lose weight with little to no effort at all, including myself.

Upon visiting my Mum today, she told me about “Secret Diet Drops” which seem to have taken Facebook by storm, with hundreds of satisfied customers claiming that they have lost up to a stone in a week by taking the drops, alongside a 500 calorie a day diet. The diet lasts for 23 days, and includes two days “loading”, in which the dieter can eat and drink absolutely anything they want. The next 21 days consists of eating nothing but 140g of protein for lunch and dinner, and only one type of vegetable per meal, nothing but tea or coffee for breakfast and 2-3 litres of water per day.

"Secret Diet Drops"

This is definitely not the first liquid drops diet that has been on the market. Back in the 50's, a physician named Dr. Albert T. Simeons used human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injections along with a 500 calorie a day diet, there was no evidence to support that this weight loss plan worked, nevertheless, he went on to set up weight loss clinics and manufacturing centres all over the U.S. This diet was dubbed the “protocol”. Unfortunately for Dr. Simeons, he was good at pushing the weight loss dream but no proper trials and evidence were ever undertaken. Eventually, the FDA wiped out the diet due to lack of evidence and disaccreditation from the Journal of American Medical Association. This was the end of the HCG diet, until the 1998 when infomercial king, Kevin Trudeau published a book called “The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You To Know About” AKA the “protocol”, this book basically brought back the work of Dr. Simeons, and despite the diet being wiped out in the fifties, Trudeau continued to push the diet and once more, victims fell victim to the scam, and in 2007 the FTC caught up with him over the claims in his book and he was fined $5 million. Now that the diet was known about again, outlets started pushing liquid versions of HCG, with the same claims as Simeons and Trudeau, but once again, the FDA stamped down, and declared the product to be both fraudulent and illegal. Not only was the HCG an illegal drug, but a very low calorie diet is dangerous to the average person. Now, the tagline of “Secret Diet Drops” is, “Lose weight using the secret protocol they don't want you to know about”, maybe it's just a coincidence that both Simeons and Trudeau used the “protocol” to describe the products that they were selling.

Kevin Trudeau 

There's no denying that people do lose weight whilst on the “Secret Diet Drops” diet, but is that down to the diet or the drops? My guess is that the 500 calorie a day diet is the secret behind the weight loss, and the “Secret Diet Drops” merely work as a placebo. “Secret Diet Drops” have claimed that, [sic] “the diet without the drops may result in tiredness, feeling weak, and muscle loss instead of fat loss, but on the drops, dieters will feel fit, healthy and full of energy”. They have also recommended to me, personally, not to do the diet without the drops.

Despite being told this, and despite knowing the dangers of such a low calorie diet, I will be joining my Mum on the diet. Eating the same as her, drinking the same as her. And we will compare weight losses, inch losses and how we feel ect. The only difference is, my Mum will be taking the drops along with the diet and I won't. I am positive that I will lose weight, based solely on the diet. But I'd like to find out if “Secret Diet Drops” really works as a weight loss aid, an appetite suppressor or acts as a vitamin supplement. Or if it really is just a worthless liquid, and it's solely the diet which holds the “secret” to so much weight loss.