The HCG Diet

Have you ever heard of the HCG diet? It is been around for over 60 years and has been buried under controversy since then about its safety and its effectiveness in weight loss. HCG stand for human chorionic gonadotropin. It is a hormone that women naturally produce during pregnancy at high levels to help the baby grow. In fact, sometimes it is actually used as a marker in home pregnancy test. Moreover, it has been used to treat fertility issues in both men and female (1). HCG hormone was first proposed as weight-loss aid in the 1950s by British physician Dr. Albert T. Simeons (2). The HCG diet basically consists of 2 main components:
• Daily injections of HCG hormone
• An ultra low-calorie diet , low fat diet of around 500 calories per day

These studies compared the effect of the HCG injections with placebo injections in people who are on a calorie- restricted diet ( 500 calorie per day) and they found that the weight loss in both groups were almost identical (2,4,5,6). Moreover, they found that the HCG hormone did not significantly reduce or suppress the hunger as what Dr. Simeons said (4). In addition, there were no scientific studies available to support the claims about HCG diet helps prevent muscle loss and that weight loss resulting only form fat loss

On the contrary, they have considered it dangerous and illegal, and they have questioned its safety as the ingredients of the HCG that are sold in the market are actually unregulated by them (2). Moreover, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the average calorie intake for healthy adults should be around 2000 calorie per day, however; the HCG diet protocol limit the calorie intake to only 500 calorie per day which may lead to significant health problems as the body will not get enough minerals, vitamins and most importantly protein. Furthermore, the usage of HCG hormone has been reported to have many serious side effects, which