A Closer Look at ... The hCG Diet

It's no secret everyone is looking for a quick-fix diet. But as with anything that's too good to be true, it's rare when one of these diets work. And even when they do, it's even more rare when the weight stays off.

And then there's the hCG diet. This weight-loss trend claims you can vaporize pounds by using a hormone produced in pregnant women. Bizarre? Perhaps. But the hCG diet -- which includes injections, drops or pills of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin -- has certainly garnered a great deal of interest.

While most fad diets are short lived due to their ineffectiveness, the hCG diet just might be in the spotlight for more than a season. What's more, people on the diet claim the weight actually stays off and that their lifestyle and diets have changed for the better.

What Exactly Is hCG?

Human chorionic gonadotropin is a polypeptide hormone produced by the human placenta and found in the urine of pregnant women. This is the hormone that pregnancy tests detect. It works to provide the fetus the nutrients and calories necessary for growth.

In the early 1950s, Dr. A.T.W. Simeons began researching hCG as a growth hormone for boys. He soon discovered, however, that the hormone provided the boys the ability to eat significantly less and lose weight while experiencing no hunger pains.

In 1954, Simeons published "Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity," detailing the ways hCG could be used to fight obesity. Studies by doctors soon showed dangers from the diet, including pulmonary embolisms, and since the mid-1970s, the hormone has not been approved by the FDA for weight loss. It is only approved as an infertility treatment in women, a hormonal treatment in men for conditions such as undescended testes and for pituitary deficiencies. But this doesn't stop some doctors from writing prescriptions for the hormone and administering it "off-label" for weight loss.

"There are five ways to take hCG," said Dr. Scott Blyer of Cameo Surgery in Manhattan. "Subcutaneous injections daily are usually done in the belly or the leg, sublingual drops, cream measured in a pump and placed on the forearm, nasal spray and troches."

Prior to starting the hormone, dieters are required to stock up on fatty foods. The hormone, once consumed, will open up fat cells, allowing the fatty acids to exit the cells. This results in dieters losing weight from areas where it's usually the hardest to lose. The body feeds off the fat it already has, causing dieters to finally see results in their thighs, saddlebags and love handles.

During the regimen -- Simeons' original protocol lasts for 23 days, but can vary depending on individual doctors' recommendations -- the dieter consumes only 500 calories of protein and fresh fruits and vegetables a day.

Toni Mammarelli-Nicosia, a 43-year-old Chicago-based home day care provider, lost 72 lbs. on the diet in 2009 and has kept it off. When on the diet, she would have only tea or coffee with stevia, a natural sweetener, for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, she'd eat 100 grams of protein with a handful of fresh vegetables and fruit.

"I can honestly say I never felt cheated," she said. "I was never hungry. I did get cravings, but it wasn't even a hunger. I was just bored of the food."

The Truth Is in the Details

Because the FDA continues to reject the hormone's use for weight loss, the diet has received quite a bad reputation. This hasn't gone unnoticed in its users.

Brandi Taylor-Beaulieu, a 21-year-old student at the University of South Carolina, ordered the drops in the middle of the night without telling anyone. She says she heard so many bad things about it, she was reluctant to reveal her new diet venture to others.

"I felt like telling people would make me less inclined to do it," she said.

In 1975, the FDA required all hCG labels to state, "It has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity." In 1975, "The Journal of the American Medical Association" also spoke out against it, stating that low calorie diets were dangerous.

Today, the FDA labeling explains, "There is no substantial evidence that [hCG] increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or 'normal' distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets."

Those who actually use the diet, however, claim that hCG does all of these things.

"I had lost 9 lbs. in seven days," said Jamie Sorrell, a 20-year-old student from Florida State University. She started the diet to lose the 20 lbs. she gained in her first semester of college. During the first week, the restriction on calories was somewhat challenging, but after that, she says she "started to feel super healthy and a lot more energized."

Blyer is not surprised by the discrepancy between FDA statements and dieter results.

"The last real research done on this was in 1975," Blyer said, adding that when the drug is administered correctly and monitored by a physician, "it is very different from the homeopathic hCG that can be purchased on the Internet."

When Blyer sees patients, he conducts a full exam, with an electrocardiogram, and reviews their blood work -- cholesterol, complete blood count and electrolytes. He also orders a thyroid panel to assure there is no underlying condition for the weight problem. He checks the patients every two weeks to track progress and adjust their dose accordingly.

Blyer does warn that the drops, which are typically ordered online and consumed by placing them under the tongue six times a day, are frequently made far ahead of time and sit on a shelf awaiting a sale, resulting in low efficacy. Additionally, because the source of the hormone is often unknown, many drops online may even be placebos.

And the Verdict Is?

The bottom line is that not enough research has been done to determine whether this treatment is safe, particularly in the long term. While there are health risks involved with the diet, there do not appear to be any short-term effects that are out of the ordinary, especially with the low doses that are usually given.

"The health dangers from obesity far outweigh taking a nominal dose of hCG," said Blyer. "Gastric bypass where the diet is 500 to 700 calories is OK? Taking blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetic meds is OK? Look at the side effect profile of those drugs."

The concerns about hCG stems from when the hormone is used as an infertility drug. In those cases, the high dosage of about 10,000 units per treatment can result in an endless number of negative health risks. But when used in the hCG diet and administered correctly, the amount for dieters is just over 1 percent of the amount of hCG typically given for infertility treatments.

The only way the drug will be approved by the FDA is if it proves to be effective in long-term obesity treatment.

But as Ryan Sobus, a Raleigh-based registered dietitian points out, for now the diet seems like a product dieters are hoping will be a magic bullet, a quick fix.

"So many of my clients are either on or off a diet," she said. "This yo-yo approach keeps them from learning how to make sustainable choices and enjoy the journey of taking care of themselves and their health."

By Brooke Ross

A Closer Look at ... The hCG Diet courtesy of LIVESTRONG.COM