The first report on the use of hCG for the weight loss was published in 1954, by the late Dr. ATW Simeons, a British physician practicing in Rome. When working in India, he noticed a group of “fat boys,” with decreased gonad function (hypogonadism), undescended testis, and low gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Also part of this condition were disruptions in the feeding centers of the hypothalamus, leading to increased consumption and storage of calories.
Dr. Simeons noticed that when these boys were treated with hCG to stimulate the testes, they also decreased their body fat and distribution. They also had normalized eating during the treatment course.
This was when he hypothesized that hCG stimulated a specialized area of the hypothalamus, responsible for the excessive fat accumulation “fat banking” as seen in obesity. Although back then, it was not proven; it was assumed that stimulation of these centers with hCG increased energy expenditure and mobilized of stubborn fat. New research is finally now showing that “Leptin,” a powerful hormone related to fat storage and appetite is affected by hCG.
There have been several studies looking at hCG for weight loss, one positive study (Asher and Harper) concluding that weight losses under hCG were superior to placebo. Other studies did not show hCG any better effects than doing just a very low calorie diet alone. What was interesting is that several of these non confirming studies failed to use the exact protocol, some had additional calories, some used fast sugar’fat converting carbohydrate such as potatoes, while others did not look at the amount of muscle lost, the type of fat lost or even the how long patients kept off the weight. A new 2010 study inside Bariatrician (a journal published from the American Society of Bariatric Physicians) offers more evidence that hCG does work: Subjects put on the dietary plan lost 30 percent more importance than counterparts who were put on a conventional meal-replacement plan, dropping around 20 pounds (and as much as 37 pounds) in five to six weeks.