Kevin Trudeau’s second book, The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About (2006), was marketed by infomercial (aired December 2006-July 2007) with three specific claims prosecutors later proved false at trial: that the protocol was not really a “diet,” when it in fact required at least three weeks of eating 500 calories a day or less; that human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone produced during pregnancy, could be obtained “anywhere,” when in the United States it required a doctor’s prescription; and that dieters could eat whatever they wanted afterward without regaining weight, when the protocol in fact demanded severe, lifelong food restriction (DOJ press release, 17 March 2014). The one real, measurable effect in this protocol is the weight loss produced by eating roughly 500 calories a day, a surrogate endpoint driven by caloric restriction alone; a criteria-based meta-analysis of controlled hCG trials found no scientific evidence that the hormone is effective for obesity, weight loss, fat redistribution, hunger reduction, or well-being (Lijesen et al. 1995, Br J Clin Pharmacol 40(3):237-43), and the broader promise of effortless, permanent maintenance was never demonstrated. A federal appeals court held that Trudeau “outright lied” and that his selective quotations misled consumers into buying the book on false hopes (FTC v. Trudeau, 579 F.3d 754, 7th Cir. 2009), and the district court subsequently ordered $37,616,161 in compensation to consumers for these losses (FTC v. Trudeau, 708 F. Supp. 2d 711, N.D. Ill. 2010).