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I have reviewed many studies on the HCG Diet and as a Exercise Physiologist I don’t understand why people continued listening to horrible advice and easy quick fixes to their weight loss.  The HCG Diet is horrible and doesn’t work to do to the human body and whomever is recommending this to people need to stop.  People on this diet and who want fast fat loss or weight loss.  WAKE UP!! Nothing works unless you eat right and you exercise, there are no shortcuts, just like having a successful business, a great marriage, or anything in life it takes work and moving in the right direction and there are never any easy way quick rich scams that work or quick fat loss plans that work.  Stop fooling yourself, of course anything works temporally and people can lose a great deal a weight on any caloric restriction diet, but it’s not good long term.  Please read this study and if you want I have many more I can send you and show you, why this isn’t good for you.  Go Get Help from an Professional Fitness Trainer, or someone that can really help you get fit and stay fit, healthy, and active forever.  Stop trying to find the easy way out and stop buying these diet and fitness scams.

 

Refer to: Greenway FL, Bray GA: Human chorionic gonadotropin

(HCG) in the treatment of obesity-A critical

assessment of the Simeons method. West J Med 127:

461-463, Dec 1977

 

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

(HCG) in the Treatment of Obesity

 

A Critical Assessment of the Simeons Method

FRANK L. GREENWAY, MD, and GEORGE A. BRAY, MD, Torrance, California

Injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) have been claimed to aid

in weight reduction by reducing hunger, and affecting mood as well as aiding

in localized (spot) reduction. We have tested these claims in a double-blind

randomized trial using injections of HCG or placebo. Weight loss was identical

between the two groups, and there was no evidence for differential effects on

hunger, mood or localized body measurements. Placebo injections, therefore,

appear to be as effective as HCG in the treatment of obesity.

THE TREATMENT OF OBESITY with diet and injections

 

of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG)

was suggested by Simeons in 19541 but its effectiveness

has never been clearly established.2-5 In

spite of the tenuous scientific basis for treating

obesity in this fashion, the method has flourished

in commercial weight clinics throughout the

United States but with concentrations in certain

locales such as Southern California.6 Many of the

commercial weight clinics advertise, operate on a

high profit margin and offer physicians large sums

of money to affiliate with them while making

minimal demands upon physician time. Consequently,

with strong financial motivations for the

continued use of the Simeons method, critical

objective evaluation seemed indicated. Among

the values claimed for this treatment are less

hunger; differential weight loss predominantly

from the hips and legs, and less emotional difficulties

such as depression during treatment. To

put these allegations to the test the following

randomized double-blind study was carried out.

From the Clinical Research Center, and the Department of

Medicine, Harbor General lHospital, Torrance, and University of

California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine.

Submitted February 23, 1977.

This investigation was supported in part by grant RR 00425

from the National Institutes of Healtlh and from the American

Society of Bariatric Physicians.

Reprint requests to: George A. Bray, MD, Harbor General

Hospital, 1000 West Carson Street, Torrance, CA 90509.

Patients and Methods

Patients answering an advertisement for participation

in a treatment program for obesity were

enrolled after payment of a deposit which was

refundable upon completion of the study. The

participants in this study were white women between

20 and 40 years of age, 152 and 172 cm

in height, and 20 percent to 60 percent overweight.

They were all in good health and had

not received HCG previously nor were they receiving

any medication for obesity. Following physical

and laboratory examinations, patients were randomly

assigned into two groups, one receiving

human chorionic gonadotropin and the other

receiving placebo injections of diluent.

The drugs were prepared and dispensed by a

local pharmacist, according to code number. Injections

were given six days a week for six weeks

and weights were obtained weekly. The measurement

of hunger was evaluated by the method of

Silverstone8 and involves asking patients to

mark a line between I and 9 based on their rating

of hunger (1 = not hungry; 9= maximum hunger).

This measure was obtained at the beginning

and at the end of treatment. The circumference

of the midthigh, the chest, the hips at the iliac

crest, and the mid-upper arm were measured at

THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 461

CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN AND OBESITY

the beginning and end of treatment to assess the

possibility of localized fat reduction. Changes

in mood during treatment were assessed using the

Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, which rates

anxiety, hostility and depression.9 Instructions regarding

diet, cosmetics and handling of patients

at return visits were identical to those described

in the study reported previously by Asher and

Harper.'0 Upon completion of the course of injections

the code was broken, and the data were

tabulated and analyzed by analysis of variance

using an IBM 370 computer.

Results

Twenty patients were enrolled in each group.

The only significant difference between the two

groups on the initial measurements was on the

anxiety scale, where the HCG group were more

anxious (p <.05) (Table 1). During treatment,

seven patients in the placebo group and two in

the HCG group failed to meet the minimum criteria

TABLE 1.-Initial Values for Clinici

In Two Groups of Pati

HCG*

Body weight (kg) . 81.4± 9.7

Circumferences (cm)

Biceps ........ 33.3 ± 2.8

Chest ......... 91.2± 8.4

Iliac crest ..... 104.6± 9.9

Midthigh ...... 58.2± 5.4

Hunger score .... 3.3± 1.1

Anxiety score .... 83.6±20.8

Hostility score . . . 69.1 ± 22.0

Depression score . 74.1 ± 24.5

for completion and were excluded from subsequent

analysis (X2 for difference in dropouts

between groups using the Yates correction was

2.294; p >0.10). The rate of weight loss is shown

in Figure 1. There were no significant differences

between the two groups at any time. The initial

and final values for the anthropometric and psychological

variables are shown in Table 2. There

were no significant differences in the changes in

any of these variables between the beginning and

end of the treatment when comparing the patients

who started and finished.

Comment and Discussion

In this trial of HCG and its diluent as a placebo,

there were no significant differences in the two

groups other than the greater anxiety in the HCG

WEEKS OF TREATMENT

Figure 1.-Body weight during treatment with human

chorionic gonadotropin (o) or placebo (e). There was no

significant difference at any time.

85-

al Measurements

fents

Placebo* Pt w

3:

79.4± 8.4 .483

a0

33.0± 2.5 .881 m

94.0± 7.1

101.8± 11.2

57.4± 4.2

2.8± 1.2

63.2± 28.0

71.6±28.3

69.4±23.3

.255

.402

.681

.203

.017

.770

.557

*N=20

tProbability determined by analysis of variance for group differences.

TABLE 2.-Initial and Final Values for Clinical Data in HCG-Treated

and Placebo-Treated Patients

HCG Placebo

Initial Final Initial Final P

Body weight (kg) 80.4± 2.3 71.6± 2.1 79.7 ±2.6 71.6± 2.3 .366

Circumferences (cm)

Arm .33.0±0.5 29.5±0.5 33.3±0.8 30.0±0.5 .733

Chest .91.7±1.8 88.6±1.5 94.0±2.0 89.4±1.8 .405

Iliac crest. 103.9±2.3 95.0±2.0 100.6±3.8 92.5±2.3 .772

Midthigh. 57.2±1.0 53.1±1.0 57.4±1.3 53.6±0.8 .285

Hunger score.3.3±0.3 4.4±0.5 2.9±0.3 4.2±0.5 .709

Anxiety score. 85.1±5.0 64.5±5.4 67.1±8.1 65.4±6.1 .139

Hostility score. 66.9± 5.2 66.4± 3.9 72.6±7.6 60.9± 6.7 .318

Depression score 72.1±5.9 67.9±4.7 67.7±6.9 62.4±5.0 .913

*Probability determined by analysis of variance from F ratio for individual differences between initial

and final values.

462 DECEMBER 1977 * 127 * 6

CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN AND OBESITY

group before treatment. It is clear that patients

lost weight quite satisfactorily indicating a high

degree of adherence to the 500 kilocalorie diet.

The injections of HCG, however, provided no additional

effects that could not be accounted for

by the diet alone. We conclude, therefore, that

HCG used in the manner prescribed by Simeons

does not enhance the rate of weight loss, nor

does it significantly reduce hunger or change the

ratings of anxiety, hostility or depression.

Although a number of other studies using HCG

in the treatment of obesity have been carried

out,1' there appear to be only two that found

HCG may be effective in treating obesity. The

recent study by Stein and co-workers4 was designed

in much the same manner as the present

study, except that mood ratings were not examined.

However, they reached the same conclusion.

With the now overwhelming body of

evidence suggesting that HCG is no more effective

than placebo in the treatment of obesity, it would

seem that further efforts to perpetuate the Simeons

method could only be financially motivated.

Therefore, we feel that the 20 year history of

the use of HCG in the treatment of obesity should

come to an end because injections of placebo

appear to be equally effective in all respects.'2

REFERENCES

1. Simeons ATW: The action of chorionic gonadotropin in the

obese. Lancet 2: 946-947, 1954

2. Albrink MJ: Chorionic gonadotropin and obesity? Am J Clin

Nutr 22:681-685, 1969

3. Bray GA: The Obese Patient, Philadelphia, W B Saunders,

1976, chapter 9

4. Stein MR, Julis RE, Peck CC, et al: Ineffectiveness of

human chorionic gonadotropin in weight reduction: A doubleblind

study. Am J Clin Nutr 29:940-948, 1976

5. Young RL, Fuchs RJ, Wolfjen MJ: Chorionic gonadotropin

in weight control. JAMA 236:2495-2497, 1976

6. Crout JR: Chroionic gonadotropin. Federal Register 39:

42397-42403, 1974

7. Bray GA (Ed): Obesity in Perspective, Fogarty International

Center Series on Preventive Medicine, Vol 2. Washington,

DC, US Government Printing Office, 1976, pt 1, p 7

8. Silverstone JT, Turner P, Humpherson P: Direct measurement

of the anorectic activity of diethylpropion (Tenuate Dospan).

J Clin Pharmacol 8:172-179, 1968

9. Zuckerman M, Lubin B, Robins SJ: Validation of the Multiple

Affect Adjective Checklist in clinical situations. J Consult

Psychol 29:594, 1965

10. Asher WL, Harper HW: Effect of human chorionic gonadotropin

on weight loss, hunger, and feeling of well-being. Am J

Clin Nutr 26:211-218, 1973

11. Bray GA, Greenway FL: Pharmacological approaches to

treating the obese patient. Clinic Endocrinol Metab 5:455-479,

1976

12. Came S: The action of chorionic gonadotropin in the obese.

Lancet 2:1282-1284, 1961

Protocol of Taking Blood Pressures in Children

Most often it's very difficult in an office practice to take blood pressures in patients

under 2 and 3 years of age. However, I think there's a great need for us to be

doing this; and we need to develop our techniques and our sensitivities to be able

to determine blood pressures on every physical examination that we do on a

child. I believe that pediatricians should devise a special protocol in taking blood

pressures. .-. . They should take a blood pressure with the patient standing or

sitting; and then they should take the blood pressure following exercise. I think

this would be terribly important. Many of us know that when a child first comes

into a physician's office and is rather nervous, the child's blood pressure might

be elevated as a result and perhaps the results of a blood pressure determination

done at home by a parent might be much more significant, so that you can use

this as a guideline.

 

-PHILIP L. CALGANO, MD, Washington, DC

Extracted from Audio-Digest Pediatrics, Vol. 22, No. 1, in the

Audio-Digest Foundation's subscription series of tape-recorded

programs. For subscription information: 1577 East Chevy

Chase Drive, Glendale, CA 91206.

THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 463