People will resort to extremes in the quest for weight loss including injections of hormone's produced during pregnancy.
People will do about anything to drop those unwanted pounds, especially if they don't have to watch what they eat or exercise for it. It is through this mind-set that people go to extremes such as the injection of a hormone produced in pregnancy known as HCG.
HCG Basics
Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone most commonly found in large amounts in pregnant women, but it is produced in both sexes. Although not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this purpose, some people believe it can be used as a weight loss tool. It has been approved for use in the treatment of some male reproductive problems and in stimulating ovulation in women. When a woman becomes pregnant her body begins producing large amounts of the hormone, which can be used as a marker to gauge how an early pregnancy is progressing. A woman will continue to produce HCG in greater amounts throughout her pregnancy.
HCG is used to metabolize fat in pregnant women for use by the baby and strengthens the uterine wall. It is also produced by some tumors and can be used as a tumor marker as well. HCG helps to stimulate estrogen production in women and testosterone production in men and has been used as a fertility aid as well.
The HCG Diet
The HCG diet fad began in the 1950s when Dr. A. Simeons used injections of the hormones along with an ultra-low-calorie diet of 500 calories per day to facilitate weight loss in patients in India. It has been theorized that since HCG helps metabolize fat in women for pregnancy, it could do the same for anyone, male or female. There are still weight-loss centers that prescribe the HCG diet injections, but it has not been approved by the FDA. In fact, it has been proven by the FDA and the American Medical Association to be ineffective in weight loss.
Both the AMA and the FDA blame the weight-loss effects of the HCG diet not on the hormone injections, but on the low-calorie diet. The body will naturally burn off more fat if its caloric intake is far below its norm. HCG cannot be bought over the counter and must be prescribed by a doctor. Contact your physician before starting any weight-loss regimen, especially one that can increase your production of male and female hormones.
