Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), also known as the "pregnancy hormone" is secreted by the syncytiotrophoblasts after conception to maintain the corpus luteum during pregnancy which in turn secretes progesterone during the first trimester of pregnancy to sustain the fetus. During pregnancy, hCG almost completely controls the woman's metabolic function (APA 2013).
Not only is hCG known for its role in pregnancy, but it has been recognized as a popular method for rapid weight loss. In non-pregnant individuals, it has been suggested that high levels of hCG will increase metabolism and lead to weight loss (JCMG 2012). The idea behind the hCG diet is that administration of hCG in conjunction with a low calorie diet will trick the body to release your stored fat and burn it through a process known as lipolysis. Taking hCG triggers the hypothalamus to use your stored, "unwanted" fats for its main source of energy.
From personal knowledge, the hCG diet consists of administering hCG either through injections or sublingually in conjunction with a 500 calorie per day diet. These calories must come from two six-ounce servings white meat, two to three pieces of fruit or vegetables and one cup of green tea or coffee in the morning. Today, a very low calorie diet is defined at 800 calories per day or lower which alone would result in very rapid weight loss (Salomon 2011). In order to function properly, your body burns on average 2100 calories per day--this does not include additional calories burned from daily activities such as walking, working out and/or simply moving around. In order to lose one pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories. If you were to consume a 1200 calorie diet, you would roughly burn 6,300 calories per week. By this alone, you would lose almost 2 pounds per week. Keep in mind, this number only reflects what your body burns just to maintain your body's basic metabolic needs. Potentially, you could lose much more weight each week by altering the energy balance of your body (decrease calories consumption and increase calorie expenditure).
Research has proven the weight loss effect on the hCG diet is due to the dramatic reduction in calories and that hCG has no measurable effect on weight loss. HCG has been proven to have no value as a means to managing obesity and the diet has been "thoroughly discredited and thus rejected by the majority of the medical community" (Haupt 2011). Which is why it was no surprise that I was unable to find one medical association to endorse hCG as a weigh loss aid. Since the 1970s, the FDA has long maintained that hCG is ineffective for weight loss (Gavura 2013). Dr. Perter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical school, called the hCG diet "reckless, irresponsible, and completely irrational [. . .] of course you can lose weight on it, but that's mainly because you're hardly consuming any calories. And any benefit is not going to last" (Haupt 2011).
Common knowledge is that if you don't eat, you lose weight. How is the hCG diet any different from what we already know? All the hCG diet consists of is a very low calorie diet and an unnecessary shot, which no one likes to administer themselves. Anyone who is malnourished is going to lose weight. Plain and simple. Wouldn't you rather lose weight the right way by exercising and eating healthy rather than use an exogenous source as a means to lose weight?
References:
Haupt A. Mar 2011. HCG Diet Dancers: Is Fast Weight Loss Worth the Risk? US News. Available at: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diet/articles/2011/03/14/hcg-diet-dangers-is-fast-weight-loss-worth-the-risk?page=2
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG); Pregnancy Hormone. American Pregnancy Association. Jan 2013. Available at: http://americanpregnancy.org/duringpregnancy/hcglevels.html.
Salomon J. 2011. What is hCG and How Does it Result in Rapid Weight Loss. Plastic Surgery and Med Spa. Available at: http://www.drjsalomon.com/pdf/hcg_q_and_a.pdf
Why You Should Avoid Using hCG for Weight Loss. 2012. Jefferson City Medical Group. Available at: http://www.jcmg.org/jcmg.nsf/web/Why-You-Should-Avoid-Using-HCG-for-Weight-Loss
Gavura S. July 2013. The HCG Diet: Yet another ineffective quick fix diet plan and supplement. Science Based Medicine. Available at: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-hcg-diet-yet-another-ineffective-quick-fix-diet-plan-and-supplement/
While researching, did you find whether administering hCG would alter effects of birth control or pregnancy? My understanding of birth control (pill form), is that it provides the body with estrogen and progesterone. These hormones then prevent follicles from growing and the release of an egg through the reduction of FSH and LH secretion. However, hormones can still be secreted while on the pill, which is why some women get pregnant if they are not consistent with taking their pill at the same time. If a women were to become pregnant, I wonder if injecting hCG would alter normal hCG secretion or affect embryologic development. Did you run into anything on this?
ReplyDeleteLiz - I've heard of the hCG diet before, but I didn't know what it was. I'm shocked to hear that this has become a way for people to lose weight, as it sounds like it is doing the body more harm than good by depleting it of the necessary nutrients it needs. Only consuming 500 calories a day sounds incredibly dangerous, since the body is essentially sent into starvation mode and is forced to destroy muscle along with fat in order to stay alive. This sounds similar to what happens with anorexia, which piggy-backs off of what Jamie was talking about as far as the hormones involved in reproduction. People who suffer from anorexia usually experience amenorrhea due to the lack of caloric intake, which suppresses the HPA axis. This suppression causes a lack of LH and FSH release, therefore causing an abnormal cycling pattern and no estrogen secretion, and thus ovulation cannot occur. I would assume that those on the hCG diet also experience amenorrhea and a lack of ovulation, and would therefore not be able to get pregnant, but what do other people think?
ReplyDeleteRyan M. Dr. Oz's hCG diet plan explained. http://www.answers.com/guides/dr-oz-s-hcg-diet-plan-explained
Sidiropoulos M. 2007 Jan. Anorexia Nervosa: The physiological consequences of starvation and the need for primary prevention efforts. McGill J Med. 10(1): 20-25.
Jamie and Cara, I would believe that if they were to remain on the diet for an extended period of time there would definitely be detrimental effects to pregnancy and whether or not they could get pregnant. However, I do believe the diet is only 30 days so I don't think it is long enough to have any long term effects on ability to conceive. It would be interesting to see if any research comes out on this.. And I was thinking anorexia when I was writing this as well, Cara!
ReplyDeleteAhhh the beauty of our quick fix mentality...NOT.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of the Hcg diet so naturally this is really confusing to me. Especially given what we know about the true physiological importance of Hcg in the body, I was intrigued by the connection between this and weight loss. So, I took a gander at the website that is actually promoting this hocus. Hcg is given to pubescent boys that have delayed gonadal growth and development. When the boys were administered this hormone, it was found that they significantly decreased weight and were also obtaining less calories. However, this is NOT to be attributed to the hcg injection. Once puberty is initiated it is not uncommon to see boys to lose body fat (this is the actual effect of testosterone which is the hormone that hcg actually intends to stimulate the production of in order to mature the male sex organs). This decrease in body fat is what eventually initiates a larger increase in caloric consumption to counterbalance this effect, initially most males lose maintain their prior caloric consumption level until their body requires mored nutrients. On another note, there are huge potential problems because the body develops immunity to hcg after 30-40 days. For a woman who is intending to become pregnant this is a large problem and for males, if the body becomes resistant to hcg, their levels of testosterone will go haywire.
When are we ever going to learn that there is no quick fix to weight loss....