You’ve probably heard of several new and amazing diets during your lifetime. There’s been the Grapefruit Diet, the Adkins’s Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet and about a hundred others. In addition to diets, there are also official and somewhat expensive programs, such as Nutrisystem and Medifast that tout successful weight loss. But recently a new weight loss craze known as “hCG” has hit the market.

hCG stands for Human Choriogonadotropin, a hormone that is produced by women in the first stages of pregnancy. Its main function in pregnancy is to stimulate the hypothalamus, which in turn moves essential fats and nutrients into the placenta to aid the fetus in growth and development. The concept behind hCG and weight loss is that hCG may have the ability to move fat, which has attracted weight loss experts and dieters looking for the newest industry breakthrough.

Unfortunately, there is little scientific evidence to show that hCG is indeed a miracle diet supplement. Dr. Robert (Andy) Hart M.D., a local physician, believes the hCG diet is not only dangerous but fails to work.

“Personally, I believe the hCG diet is dangerous,” Hart said. “The diet calls for only 500 calories per day and no serious weight loss programs utilize this extreme calorie deprivation. The long-term results are poor at best, and possibly dangerous to long-term health.”

According to Hart, the controversial use of hCG as a weight loss mechanism when combined with a 500 calorie daily intake was created by now deceased British endocrinologist Albert T. W. Simeons. After studying pregnant women in India that were on a low calorie diet along with young men suffering from pituitary problems being treated with hCG, he discovered that both groups saw fat being replaced by lean muscle. As a result Simeons reasoned that hCG must have naturally programmed the hypothalamus of the pregnant women to do this in order to protect the developing fetus by promoting mobilization and consumption of abnormal, excessive adipose (fat) deposits. Simeons began to recommend low-dose daily hCG injections (125 IU) in combination with a customized ultra-low-calorie (500 cal/day) diet to promote a loss of adipose tissue without loss of lean tissue.

Hart believes the hormone presents a placebo effect for those taking it and does little for weight loss. Logically, if an individual only consumes 500 calories a day he or she will lose weight with or without hCG drops. According to Hart, a meta analysis found that studies supporting hCG for weight loss were of poor methodological quality and concluded that “there is no scientific evidence that hCG is effective in the treatment of obesity; it does not bring about weight-loss or fat-redistribution, nor does it reduce hunger or induce a feeling of well-being.”

“Since hCG doesn’t really appear to do anything (except for the placebo effect which is reasonably powerful), I think that any other evidence-based weight loss treatment will be more effective than this hormone,” Hart said.

In his own practice Hart does treat weight loss issues and recommends various medications and or programs.

“There are prescription medications (like phentermine (i.e., Adipex) which are clearly proven to accelerate weight loss,” he shared. “However, they can only be used for short term (12 weeks per Ohio law) and require medical monitoring during use. We use them selectively in patients for whom they can be used safely. Weight Watchers is a good program. My two favorite programs for general consumer use are Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. Both attempt to utilize scientific principles in guiding their weight loss recommendations. The two-year weight loss data for these programs--as evaluated by an independent study--was only about five to 10 pounds. While this is not great, there certainly are a number of persons who have great success with these programs.”

Hart added that the program TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) is probably the best budget program, but doesn’t have quite the data that Weight Watchers does. He also said that OA (Overeaters Anonymous) is a very interesting program that is quite helpful for a subset of patients with severe carbohydrate addiction.

There are many warnings regarding hCG that are clearly stated in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that show hCG is neither safe nor effective as a weight loss aid. However, recent studies in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism show hCG can have an effect on the lean body mass of older men with androgen deficiency.

Side effects of hCG may include depression, headaches, and blood clots. Although it has been FDA-approved for use in pregnancy, it has not been approved for dieting.

If you are struggling with weight loss, meeting with a physician and obtaining his or her input and expertise is the best way to address the issue. Avoiding fad diets and sticking to a doctor recommended plan is a major key to success with weight loss.