HCG Diet Research Update

The medical database at the National Institutes of Health (PubMed) lists 20,489 research articles on hCG. Just 93 of them entail anything having to do with weight loss. More recently, the past decade shows 5,341 articles on hCG, 33 of which mention weight loss. None of the latter are actual weight loss studies, though. Scientific interest in this topic seems to be at an all time low.

Nevertheless, one recent study stands out, and does not even get listed in the above search on hCG and weight loss. The reason is because it focuses on the changes in certain cardiovascular risk factors that accompany weight loss. The hCG diet just happened to be the protocol used for achieving weight loss. The full reference data for this study are as follows:



Mikirova NA, Casciari JJ, Hunninghake RE, Beezley MM. Effect of weight reduction on cardiovascular risk factors and CD34-positive cells in circulation. Int J Med Sci. 2011;8(6):445-52.

This study was designed to stick closely to the Simeons hCG diet plan, with certain modifications. It was designed as follows:

1) Meals totaling 500 calories per day, consisting of: breakfast of coffee/tea with no sugar or one fruit serving, with lunch and dinner each comprising of 3.5 oz of lean protein, a vegetable serving, a bread serving, and a fruit serving; 2) Oral supplements consisting of the following nutrients: 250 mg tyrosine, 2 mg beta-glucan, 200 mcg selenium, 1 mg folic acid, 5 mg iodine, 7.5 mg potassium iodide, 600 mg magnesium, 5 g vitamin D3, 60 mg coenzyme Q10, 150 mg lipoic acid, 340 mg acetyl-L-carnitine, 100 mg vitamin B complex, and a probiotic (2 billion CFU acidophilus with 2 billion CFU bifidus and 109 mg FOS); 3) Daily treatments of hCG nasal spray, at doses of 125 - 180 IU; 4) Daily sublingual treatments by vitamin B12 (1,000 mcg per day).

The program schedule was as follows: patients took supplements, B12, and hCG for two days prior to beginning a 36-day very low calorie diet. This was followed by a 35-day treatment period during which calorie intake was gradually raised while restricting sugar and starch intake. Then the hCG treatment was stopped.

The greatest weight loss by any subject was about 37.8 lbs and the least was 5.5 lbs. The authors did not explain this wide discrepancy except to say that the greatest losses happened in those who started out the heaviest.

Furthermore, average body fat decreased by 12.4 percent, along with a mean decrease in lean body mass of 5.7 percent. In other words, fat loss dropped at double the rate of lean body mass. This result is exactly what Dr. Simeons had already shown way back in 1954.

Cardiovascular risk indicators also showed a statistically significant improvement in total cholesterol, the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol. Improvement also occurred in levels of triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, and VLDL cholesterol. The HDL cholesterol levels did not change.

What about those CD34-positive cells in circulation? Researchers are continually looking for additional indicators of cardiovascular health other than blood lipids. One of the relatively new indicators is a cell type that negatively correlates with damage to the lining of vascular tissue. Damage to cells that help replenish such tissue accompanies obesity. As the numbers of such cells go down, damage goes up. An increase of one of these types of cells, called CD34-positive cells, may therefore be an indicator of improvement of vascular health.

The authors showed how an increase in production of CD34-positive cells correlates with changes in percent body fat. Specifically, there was a strong positive correlation between an increase in this cell type and the percent reduction in body fat. This is the positive result that indicates improved vascular health as percent body fat goes down.