The online medical database, PubMed, lists a total of 20,489 research articles on hCG as of May, 2013. Just 93 of these have anything to do with weight loss, most of them loosely so. Furthermore, the past decade reveals 5,341 articles on hCG, just 33 of which are loosely associated with weight loss. Of those 33, none are actual studies of the hCG diet for weight loss. This subject is clearly not a high priority in medical research.
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.
The study was designed to follow the Simeons protocol for the hCG diet, with a few changes, 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 scheduled program was as follows: patients took B12, supplements, and hCG for two days prior to starting a 36-day very low calorie diet. This program was followed by 35 days wherein calorie consumption was slowly increased. Sugar and starch intake were restricted during this period. The hCG treatment was then stopped.
The most weight lost by any subject was about 37.8 lbs. The least was 5.5 lbs. The article did not explain the reason behind this wide discrepancy except to say that those who started out the heaviest lost the most weight.
Moreover, the average decrease in body fat was 12.4 percent. This was accompanied by an average mean decrease of 5.7 percent lean body mass. In other words, the amount of fat loss was more than double the amount lost in lean body mass. This result confirms what Dr. Simeons had already shown more than a half century ago.
The main results of blood tests for accepted indicators of cardiovascular risk showed statistically significant improvements in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol, and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol. In addition, improvement also occurred in levels of fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and VLDL cholesterol. The only measure that did not change was HDL cholesterol.
What about those circulating CD34-positive cells? Scientists continually search for new indicators of cardiovascular health besides blood lipids. A relatively new indicator is the production of a cell type that negatively correlates with vascular tissue damage. Damage to cells that help replace such tissue correlates with obesity. As the numbers of such cells decrease, damage increases. A rise in a cell type called CD34-positive cells is thought to be an indicator of improvement of vascular health.
Increases in CD34-positive cells are perhaps best summarized as a correlation with changes in body fat. Specifically, this study found a strong positive correlation between a change in percent body fat (i.e., a decrease) and an increase in DC34-positive cells. This is definitely a positive health indicator. It means that more cell types that promote vascular health are produced as body fat decreases.
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.
The study was designed to follow the Simeons protocol for the hCG diet, with a few changes, 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 scheduled program was as follows: patients took B12, supplements, and hCG for two days prior to starting a 36-day very low calorie diet. This program was followed by 35 days wherein calorie consumption was slowly increased. Sugar and starch intake were restricted during this period. The hCG treatment was then stopped.
The most weight lost by any subject was about 37.8 lbs. The least was 5.5 lbs. The article did not explain the reason behind this wide discrepancy except to say that those who started out the heaviest lost the most weight.
Moreover, the average decrease in body fat was 12.4 percent. This was accompanied by an average mean decrease of 5.7 percent lean body mass. In other words, the amount of fat loss was more than double the amount lost in lean body mass. This result confirms what Dr. Simeons had already shown more than a half century ago.
The main results of blood tests for accepted indicators of cardiovascular risk showed statistically significant improvements in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol, and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol. In addition, improvement also occurred in levels of fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and VLDL cholesterol. The only measure that did not change was HDL cholesterol.
What about those circulating CD34-positive cells? Scientists continually search for new indicators of cardiovascular health besides blood lipids. A relatively new indicator is the production of a cell type that negatively correlates with vascular tissue damage. Damage to cells that help replace such tissue correlates with obesity. As the numbers of such cells decrease, damage increases. A rise in a cell type called CD34-positive cells is thought to be an indicator of improvement of vascular health.
Increases in CD34-positive cells are perhaps best summarized as a correlation with changes in body fat. Specifically, this study found a strong positive correlation between a change in percent body fat (i.e., a decrease) and an increase in DC34-positive cells. This is definitely a positive health indicator. It means that more cell types that promote vascular health are produced as body fat decreases.
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