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Originally Posted by Jasmyn
Hi! I joined Metabolic Research Centers several months ago. Alot of people here lose weight on the plan (I do know of one person who has lost 50lbs and kept it off), but I wasn't able to follow it. You join for a membership fee, which is based on the amount of weight you want to lose. I think my fee was around $189 or so - for 50lbs. They have supplements (vitamins, minerals, appetite control, all natural stuff.. which means nothing to me... I don't do supplements.) to take and those will be an additional cost if you choose to use them. It is a low calorie diet- you eat regular food and can even have bread and stuff, but the diet is still pretty strict. It also requires that you use their high protien, low-cal, 0 fat shakes (shakes can be made into jellos or puddings and soups are available too)-- they get pretty expensive ($11 for a box of 7 - you'll use 3-5 per day). You go in for weekly consultations and weighin- and once monthly measurments.
Some people respond well when they have someone to report to weekly, which is probably where the success comes from. The staff at the center here have all followed the program before and they are all really nice and encouraging... it just isn't my thing.
Hmmm so they REQUIRE you to buy their shakes?
LA Weight Loss got cited by the New York Courts a few years ago for forcing customers to buy their "LA Lite" bars. Nowadays they can't REQUIRE the purchase but from what I've read, they do a very, very hard sell to customers.
I did a bit of googling on this, and wondered if this was the same "Metabolic Research Center"...
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00953.html
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that on September 22, 2003, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Vining, Jr. entered a Consent Decree of Permanent Injunction against Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, National Urological Group, National Institute for Clinical Weight Loss, American Weight Loss Clinic, United Metabolic Research Center, and Jared R. Wheat, President of these corporations, to prevent the sale and distribution of unapproved and misbranded products. FDA took this enforcement action because the defendants repeatedly sold dietary supplements making disease claims for the treatment of obesity and erectile dysfunction.
The government’s complaint, filed by the Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that Jared R. Wheat and his dietary supplement corporations violated the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by distributing unapproved and misbranded drugs in interstate commerce.
Although FDA had repeatedly warned the individual and the corporations about their illegal actions, they continued to make false health and disease claims for the dietary supplement products. One of the provisions of the Consent Decree is that Mr. Wheat’s corporations will stop distributing all dietary supplements until the FDA has reviewed all revised product labeling, promotional literature, and detailed inspection reports from the defendants’ consulting firm.
"FDA will continue to take strong action to protect American consumers from dietary supplements that are not accurately labeled or that make false and misleading claims unsupported by scientific evidence," said FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "Today’s action demonstrates FDA’s continued commitment to help consumers make health and dietary choices based on accurate information –and to help them avoid bad outcomes from potentially dangerous products."
The FDA has initiated this action as part of its responsibility for advancing and protecting the public health by enforcing the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and related laws and regulations. FDA’s mission includes ensuring the safety or safety and effectiveness of a broad spectrum of regulated products, including food, human and animal drugs, vaccines, blood products, medical devices, devices that emit radiation, and cosmetics.
The listed corporations conduct business out of one office located in Norcross, Ga.
Norcross, Georgia...interesting because many of the locations are in GA and FLA. I would not be at all surprised if this is the same organization. I mean, my God...the name alone is deceitful! "Metabolic Research Center". So what kind of "research" are they doing on metabolism? From what was said in the previous post, it's nothing more than another diet center selling overpriced questionable supplements. But I guess they just figured that by calling themselves a "Metabolic Research Center" which is a commonly used department name used by reputable universities and medical institutions they could impress their target market enough to scam them out of as much money as possible.
Here are some examples of REAL Metabolic Research institutions that I found in a Google search:
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Scripps Health Foundation, Del Mar
Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center
Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at University of Pennsylvania
and so on. Not even in the same ballpark...the people behind this 'diet center' are just piggybacking on the reputation of ACTUAL research centers.
They're just another bunch of diet scammers, IMO.