As a physical fitness trainer for the Air Force, I've received several questions regarding diets, the most intriguing being the HCG diet. After doing some research, I learned that the HCG diet is a weight-loss plan combining daily injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone with the ingestion of only 500 calories per day (Robb-Nicholson, 2010).
HCG is released during pregnancy and is located in a pregnant woman's urine (Robb-Nicholson, 2010). In the 1950s, British physician Dr. Albert T. Simeons claimed that the HCG injections caused the body to burn stored fat from the stomach, hips, and thighs, and assured that muscle would not deteriorate (Robb-Nicholson, 2010).
Several studies have been conducted on this diet; the FDA has shown that the low-caloric intake, NOT the injections, cause the weight loss (Robb-Nicholson, 2010). There also exist reports of adverse side effects from the injections themselves, including blood clots and headaches (Robb-Nicholson, 2010).
Unfortunately, due to the media and online blogging. interest in this diet has only increased over the past few years. Today, the hormone is now available in a sublingual form (Robb-Nicholson, 2010), thus increasing its popularity.
I personally advise against this diet, as such a low caloric intake only causes fatigue, depression, dizziness, fainting, and a plethora of other negative side effects. Honestly, it's amazing what sleep, a balanced diet, and moderate exercise can do for one's general health and wellness. My clients are constantly amazed at how quickly such simple lifestyle changes can yield desired results. Generally, fad diets don't work, and those that do "work" are extremely unhealthy for you.
So I'm posting this for two main reasons: First, what are your thoughts on fad diets, particularly this HCG diet? Second, what does the HCG hormone do to the human body (particularly the male body) after long-term use? Pregnant women release this hormone during pregnancy, but no one produces it in such quantities over an extended period of time. How would the presence of an unnatural hormone alter the body?
For more information on this, see the article "By the way, doctor. I've been trying to lose weight for a long time and nothing seems to work. What do you know about the HCG diet?" in Harvard Women's Health Watch, written by Celeste Robb-Nicholson. You should also check out what people write on health blogs and websites...it's pretty fascinating!
I think fad diets are not reliable at all! Not only do they usually require a complete lifestyle change (which is often mentally impossible and that is what I feel so many of them fail so often), they are also only short-term fixes, kind of like a bandaid. For example, my friend went on a diet that requires you to eat almonds, eggs, blueberries, and some sort of juice as a "purge" for 5 days and then continue eating these things in larger quantities (or something along those lines). However, the point is that the diet "fads" may help you lose weight, but it does not make you healthier in the long run and it also is often easily reversed! The only true way to lose weight and become healthier for a long period of time or permanently is to change your lifestyle; a 2-week purge will not make you healthy for life; an exercise and eating plan that is carefully planned out will.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to this diet, WHAT? What are people thinking? As you said Ashton, people are clearly injecting large quantities of an uncommon hormone into their systems. I feel that anything unnatural or uncommon is not going to fix a weight or diet problem. And as you said, 500 calories will not sustain you for a day, at least not if you are a normal, semi-active human being.
As far a HCG injections go, according to MayoClinic "no high-quality studies have shown that the hormone itself helps weight loss" (Nelson, 2010). I personally view the MayoClinic as a very reliable source that reports pretty accurate information.
As far as HCG in males, I can only speculate; I feel that the hormone may not affect anything in the body because the hormone is not naturally produced, so therefore it does not have a natural receptor or effect on the body. Like I said, rough speculation.
American society has literally preached hundreds of different fad diets, each one promoting itself as the “fastest, best, easiest approach to lose weight”, and usually the majority of these significantly fail to succeed and it isn’t hard to see why. Most of these fad diets eliminate entire food groups, such as low fat or low carb diets, or focus on one food group or particular food such as lean protein or lemon water with maple syrup (if you can even fathom to count that as an energy source). They are unhealthy in so many ways since they require a severe reduction in caloric intake, which means lack in nutrients, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, etc., and since most of these diets promote moderate exercise along with dieting, there is clearly not enough energy to sustain a healthy lifestyle. Looking around on the internet or even in magazines, these fad diets undoubtedly promote behaviors that lead to eating disorders and other sorts of health problems. Sure, you will lose weight eating 500 calories a day for a few weeks, until your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to every ounce of fat you have and instead starts to eat away at your muscles. If eating that little plus injecting myself with a hormone that is specifically produced during pregnancy is what it takes for me to lose weight, then please count me out.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me that anyone would want to inject themselves with this human chorionic gonadotropin hormone, especially males. hCG injections were banned in response to androgen doping among sporting events because they produce a sustained increase in endogenous testosterone production (Handelsmen et. al, 2009). Due to its chemical composition, the hormone is similar to that of a LH pituitary glycoprotein hormone in males, that when expressed on Leydig cells regulate endogenous testosterone production (Handelsmen et. al, 2009). I think since this hormone stimulates the gonads and does increase testosterone levels, I think injections can influence male personality, such as being more aggressive, increasing libido, muscle growth stimulation, etc. However, I have a male acquaintance tried this type of diet, and reported the exact opposite. He had no sex drive, was losing weight but a lot of that was his lean muscle mass, and was more docile than before he went on the diet. Therefore, as Josh said above, one can only speculate about the side effects of unnatural quantities of hormones within the system.
Source: Handelsman, D. J., Goebel, C., Idan, A., Jimenez, M., Trout, G., & Kazlauskas, R. (2009). Effects of recombinant human LH and hCG on serum and urine LH and androgens in men. Clinical Endocrinology, 71(3), 417-428. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2265.2008.03516.x
I actually heard a lady promoting this diet yesterday! According to her, this was supposed to be taken orally by a dropper, and freaked out that people would inject it into themselves. She claimed that HCG burned stored fat but the key point to the diet was that one was absolutely forbidden to exercise while on the diet - for 500 calories a day only provided enough energy for the day and muscles simply would 1. begin to deteriorate and 2. not have the ability rebuild themselves. Not only was it a 500 calorie diet, it was an anti carb, gluten, and sugar diet. She had done 3 rounds of this diet (maximum dose is 45 drops, one per day) and lost 65 pounds. I wish I had asked her if she had ever attempted this diet WITHOUT the drops... to see once and for all if it was the HCG or the (insanely) low food intake. According the Mayo Clinic, no one really knows for sure.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091