The "HCG Diet"

[yeahbuddy289]

Was in walmart the other day and they had a display for the "hcg diet". I was like wtf lol. Is this seriously anything like the hcg we use? lol

[JohnnyVegas]

The real HCG diet is exactly the same hCG we use, combined with a very low calorie diet. Many people on the diet lose weight, but science says it is from the reduced calories, not the hCG.

A prescription is needed for hCG, but it has become so popular that companies (like the one sold at Walmart) are doing "natural" hCG that you drink. They are absolute rubbish.

[The Bear 79]

This is exactly the same hCG we use, combined with a very low calorie diet. Many people on the diet lose weight, but science says it is from the reduced calories, not the hCG.

A prescription is needed for hCG, but it has become so popular that companies are doing "natural" hCG that you drink. Absolute rubbish.

It's NOT the same HCG we use, it sez rite on the box "Hormone Free"

[The Bear 79]

Originaly posted by Lemonada8

[JohnnyVegas]

It's NOT the same HCG we use, it sez rite on the box "contains no Prohormones"

I wasn't talking about the Walmart version when I said it was the same. I thought the OP was asking if the hCG diet in general was the same as what we take. My second comment about it becoming popular and spawning rubbish non-prescription versions WAS referring to Walmart.

I re-read my comment and see that my message was garbled crap. I have changed it.

[BG]

It works well with women, have a friend in AZ that runs a gym and lots of ladies has had success with it. But being in such a caloric deficit you will lose weight no matter what. Ive heard some astounding numbers in a short amount of time.

[Lemonada8]

It's good for women for weight loss, it tricks the body in thinkin it's pregnant, when this occurs the women's body begins to burn excess calories for preparing for growth of the fetus. But with a extreme calorie deficient diet, the body burns the excess fat stored... Then the other signals never come ( from pregnancy) so the body keeps reacting to the pre-signal (hcg) in burning all unnecessary weight/fat.

[gixxerboy1]

It's NOT the same HCG we use, it sez rite on the box "Hormone Free"

The real one is. My friend had an HCG diet website. He has a Dr write the script kinda like the clinics do

[Nooomoto]

I'm pretty sure any weight loss is from the 500 cal/day diets the people get put on, and not from the hCG. It's a gimmick. It's a cool theory but there's no evidence to suggest the hCG actually effects weight loss vs the diet. If you ever watch those shows with hardcore obese people that have to lose weight before getting surgery, the hospitals always put them on a hardcore diet and they drop weight like crazy...no hCG or anything.

I'm guessing the hCG is used as a placebo to get the women to stick to the diet, as if you just give them the diet alone they probably won't do it. But since they are being injected with the hCG they think "Oh...if I eat more it won't work!", plus it gives the clinics something to itemize on a bill...you can't really charge money for telling people to eat 500 cals a day.

[Doctapeppa]

It's good for women for weight loss, it tricks the body in thinkin it's pregnant, when this occurs the women's body begins to burn excess calories for preparing for growth of the fetus. But with a extreme calorie deficient diet, the body burns the excess fat stored... Then the other signals never come ( from pregnancy) so the body keeps reacting to the pre-signal (hcg) in burning all unnecessary weight/fat.

HCG does not trick the woman's body into thinking it's pregnant. If it did then the woman would cease to ovulate and that is not the case. HCG in the context of dieting does nothing different than placebo as has been documented in multiple studies.

[TheClinch]

Thought I would post a quote from Beth Golden, PhD, "The HCG Diet Expert".

"OK, let's go back to some VERY basics about the HCG Diet..... before the media and the Doctors I see in the news make an even further mess of trying to explain it!

The extremely SMALL amount of hCG injections and/or the homeopathic hCG work to better balance the malfunction of the hypothalamus. When the reduced fat, low protein diet is used in conjunction with the hCG injections or hCG homeopathic, a person is JUST on the verge of protein deficiency. This in turn signals the body to tap into the abnormal fat reserves that are there to keep us alive in a "starvation" situation... now that the hypothalamus is being 'nudged' just a bit to function more normally, while on the HCG Diet, the body begins and continues to utilize the fat reserves to maintain "survival'... and does it very nicely, I might add."

"For goodness sakes, the HCG Diet does MANY things, but DOES NOT TRICK YOUR BODY INTO THINKING IT'S PREGNANT... I have heard this on the news recently, in addition to the statement that the 'HCG Diet stimulates a woman's ovaries to make estrogen'. That right there tells me they have no idea what the guidelines are of this diet are. There is not enough hCG administered to stimulate the ovaries. THAT'S THE POINT of IT!.. it's NOT being used as a pre-cursor to hormones.

... for goodness sakes.. where in the world is all this BAD information coming from!!

The media and Dr. OZ need to read up on the actions of this diet because he did not deny the comment about it stimulating a woman's ovaries to make more estrogen... Get with it Dr. Oz!!"

[Lemonada8]

HCG does not trick the woman's body into thinking it's pregnant. If it did then the woman would cease to ovulate and that is not the case. HCG in the context of dieting does nothing different than placebo as has been documented in multiple studies.

The women cant ovulate when shes pregnant because she physically cant do it, the fetus is in the way. HCG has nothing to do with that, i was refering to how the womens body utilizes all non-necessary 'energy' in preperation for the fetus. There are many more signals in the body during pregnancy which have more effects than HCG that dont come (which i also said)

post links to those studies however.

[Doctapeppa]

The women cant ovulate when shes pregnant because she physically cant do it, the fetus is in the way. HCG has nothing to do with that, i was refering to how the womens body utilizes all non-necessary 'energy' in preperation for the fetus. There are many more signals in the body during pregnancy which have more effects than HCG that dont come (which i also said)

post links to those studies however.

The fetus is in the way? Lol, where in the world did you get that? A woman does not ovulate while she is pregnant because of elevated levels of progesterone which is firs produced by the corpus luteum and later by the placenta. Progesterone inhibits LH and FSH which are what cause ovulation. Block LH and FSH and a woman doesn't ovulate. This is how most oral contraceptive tablets work (they contain progesterone and estrogen, basically)

I can't post links yet. if you go to pub med and type in "HCG and weight loss" you will get several different articles. One is even a huge meta analysis of multiple studies that concludes: "5. We conclude that there is no scientific evidence that HCG is effective in the treatment of obesity; it does not bring about weight-loss of fat-redistribution, nor does it reduce hunger or induce a feeling of well-being."

Edit: Here is the ref. for that study: Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1995 September; 40(3): 237–243

[Lemonada8]

I guess i should have said 'embryo' instead of fetus, for a more technically correct term. since the embryo is implanted on the wall of the uterus, the fallopian tubes get closed off due to the production of mucus on the uterine wall where the 'blastocyst' is forming. yes, it is initiated by the homorone levels and the negative feedback of hormone production but there is also a physical barrier blocking the path. Not that has anything to do with HCG, but wanted to clarify my point.

and if you read that 'meta-analysis' it is very bias against it, and they kinda hint towards it. There will never be a true 'conclusive' paper on the HCG diet because it is very variable between people with many environmental factors.

With the positive papers out there with the HCG diet, you cant say its purely placebo because people have differing reactions towards placebo (either towards it or complete opposite), and there are still positive results out there.

[Doctapeppa]

I guess i should have said 'embryo' instead of fetus, for a more technically correct term. since the embryo is implanted on the wall of the uterus, the fallopian tubes get closed off due to the production of mucus on the uterine wall where the 'blastocyst' is forming. yes, it is initiated by the homorone levels and the negative feedback of hormone production but there is also a physical barrier blocking the path. Not that has anything to do with HCG, but wanted to clarify my point.

and if you read that 'meta-analysis' it is very bias against it, and they kinda hint towards it. There will never be a true 'conclusive' paper on the HCG diet because it is very variable between people with many environmental factors.

With the positive papers out there with the HCG diet, you cant say its purely placebo because people have differing reactions towards placebo (either towards it or complete opposite), and there are still positive results out there.

Are you talking about cervical mucous? That doesn't have anything to do with ovulation either, I'm afraid. That prevents spermatozoa from entering the uterus of a woman who is already gravid but does not play a part in ovulation. Ovulation is not affected by the location of the embryo nor the fetus nor is it affected by cervical mucous. The fate of that ova can definitely be affected by those, but ovulation is an event that occurs under hormonal influence. As a matter of fact, HCG can actually induce ovulation because it acts like LH and has been used in the past to help women with infertility problems.

I can definitely say it is equivalent to placebo (with regard to weight loss) because this is what research has shown consistently. This is very well documented and the reference I listed isn't even close to being the only paper on this matter. Also, the reference I mentioned is a meta analysis. A meta analysis is a research that gathers together all the other curent published literature to come to a consensus.

Any and all positive results that you have witnessed or read about due to "the HCG diet" are entirely due to the caloric deficit that people on this diet are in.

[Lemonada8]

Are you talking about cervical mucous? That doesn't have anything to do with ovulation either, I'm afraid. That prevents spermatozoa from entering the uterus of a woman who is already gravid but does not play a part in ovulation. Ovulation is not affected by the location of the embryo nor the fetus nor is it affected by cervical mucous. The fate of that ova can definitely be affected by those, but ovulation is an event that occurs under hormonal influence. As a matter of fact, HCG can actually induce ovulation because it acts like LH and has been used in the past to help women with infertility problems.

I can definitely say it is equivalent to placebo (with regard to weight loss) because this is what research has shown consistently. This is very well documented and the reference I listed isn't even close to being the only paper on this matter. Also, the reference I mentioned is a meta analysis. A meta analysis is a research that gathers together all the other curent published literature to come to a consensus.

Any and all positive results that you have witnessed or read about due to "the HCG diet" are entirely due to the caloric deficit that people on this diet are in.

The egg released from the ovary travels down the tubes and passes by the increased mucus on the endometrial surface, when it gets implanted by the zygote it provides a physical barrier against another egg coming down the tubes is all I'm saying. If you are being super specific on ovulation only vein the release of the egg then so be it... Hcg doesnt have much place in ovulation nor did i say it did. All i was saying is that hcg is a hormone that prepares the women's body for the growthfor the baby which needs extra energy.


Any paper can have a bias tone to it and the one I saw when I used your suggested search terms, had a loud bias tone to it.
If weight loss/fat loss was that easy, with a sub500 calorie diet, then why isn't it used more?
There is a physiologic method behind it that goes with current understanding of physiology, and has provided positive results... So to each his own, I feel there are possible positive outcomes with the hcg diet. Is it highly a 'fad' diet now, yes; but there has to be some basis of truth for that to happen.

[Dpyle]

While the HCG may not be directly responsible for the weight loss, it helps to prevent muscle wasting while operating in such a high calorie deficit. Once the body enters "starvation" mode it serves to prevent the body from burning muscle tissue for energy.

[BG]

While the HCG may not be directly responsible for the weight loss, it helps to prevent muscle wasting while operating in such a high calorie deficit. Once the body enters "starvation" mode it serves to prevent the body from burning muscle tissue for energy.

Thats why athetes were starting to use hcg.......

[Dpyle]

I'm pretty sure any weight loss is from the 500 cal/day diets the people get put on, and not from the hCG. It's a gimmick. It's a cool theory but there's no evidence to suggest the hCG actually effects weight loss vs the diet. If you ever watch those shows with hardcore obese people that have to lose weight before getting surgery, the hospitals always put them on a hardcore diet and they drop weight like crazy...no hCG or anything.

I'm guessing the hCG is used as a placebo to get the women to stick to the diet, as if you just give them the diet alone they probably won't do it. But since they are being injected with the hCG they think "Oh...if I eat more it won't work!", plus it gives the clinics something to itemize on a bill...you can't really charge money for telling people to eat 500 cals a day.

Sorry my last post was in response to this^^^
just found the quote function on the mobile app.

[Doctapeppa]

The egg released from the ovary travels down the tubes and passes by the increased mucus on the endometrial surface, when it gets implanted by the zygote it provides a physical barrier against another egg coming down the tubes is all I'm saying. If you are being super specific on ovulation only vein the release of the egg then so be it... Hcg doesnt have much place in ovulation nor did i say it did. All i was saying is that hcg is a hormone that prepares the women's body for the growthfor the baby which needs extra energy.


Any paper can have a bias tone to it and the one I saw when I used your suggested search terms, had a loud bias tone to it.
If weight loss/fat loss was that easy, with a sub500 calorie diet, then why isn't it used more?
There is a physiologic method behind it that goes with current understanding of physiology, and has provided positive results... So to each his own, I feel there are possible positive outcomes with the hcg diet. Is it highly a 'fad' diet now, yes; but there has to be some basis of truth for that to happen.

There is no physiologic method attributed to HCG that favors weight loss. It was thought many years ago to be the case but was not proven to be it's function. Even if it were an effect of HCG, injecting it does not cause this effect.

I'm not sure what you mean by "bias tone". The study I mentioned is from the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, it is a peer reviewed journal meaning it has been scrutinized by the medical community and thus free from bias. What type of bias are you claiming it contains? Are you just using the word bias because it takes a specific stance that is not the one you agree with?

Weight loss is extremely easy for anyone if one consumes 500 calories a day (although it's obviously not ideal for many reasons). Heck, even with 1000 calories weight will just melt off of most people. The reason it's not used more is the obvious difficulty with adhering to such a diet. Why does "the hcg diet work"? Simple: The power of suggestion. People who are on the HCG diet (the actual HCG diet with doctor administered injections) are believing it works, going to a doctor's office once a week, and receiving painful injections. They believe that they have something in their bodies that will help them keep to their restricted diet and so it becomes easier for them.

The reason I, other doctors, and even the FDA will tell you that it "doesn't work" is because when studies were done where one group of people received actual HCG and another group of people received just plain sterile water for injection, both groups lost exactly the same amount of weight. There are at least 3, randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled studies that found the same thing.

Here is one, there are several:

JAMA. 1976 Nov 29;236(22):2495-7.
Chorionic gonadotropin in weight control. A double-blind crossover study.
Young RL, Fuchs RJ, Woltjen MJ.
Abstract
Two hundred two patients participated in a double-blind random cross-over study of the effectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) vs placebo in a wieght reduction program. Serial measurements were made of weight, skin-fold thickness, dropout rates, reasons for dropping out, and patient subjective response. There was no statistically significant difference between those receiving HCG vs placebo during any phase of this study (P greater than .1).

[Lemonada8]

What about the thyroid stimulating properties of HCG? HCG is shows to be a stimulator of TSH. and an increased tyroid stimulation would enhance weight loss.

I def agree with the power of suggestion, which i tried to hint at earlier. Either the women embrace it and help with a good diet/exercise or abuse it with lack of good diet/exercise.

The journal article i read had a few points it made which seems bias to me. One was about how the scoring rubric was nearly impossible to get a full score and the 2nd was the point on how women dont like their urine going to weight loss, instead of fertility. I just skimmed though the paper and those caught my eye and seemed very bias, esp when it had no back up (like a survey in women and a % saying that, it seemed like a opinion of the authors), and you cant get a perfect score but if you cant get a perfect score, how do you know that your rubric is tuned in properly to the properties of the study. (similar to curving a test b/c the highest score was a 60%... that there were some other unaccounted factors in play that altered the outcome) and some of the studies were self reported...

I beleive it has its place in the weightloss community, maybe not a cureall for everyone but still should def be an option.