The Dangers of the HCG Diet
While most people don’t know all the details of the HCG diet, there is at least one thing most people know. A person on the HCG diet is only allowed 500 k/cal per day to eat. While I’ve personally known many people who have lost weight on this diet, I have always wondered how many of them lost weight because they were only eating 500 k/cal per day, or was it something special in the HCG.
HCG ((Human chorionic gonadotropin) is a hormone produced during pregnancy that mobilizes fat stores to be used for the health of your growing baby. The premise of the HCG diet is using this hormone to mobilize fat, combined with a Very Low Calorie diet, weight loss should be effortless. While the ideas sounds like it would work, considering the extreme effort our bodies go through to maintain a balance of hormones, it might not work exactly like the scientists who developed this diet had planned. When there is excess of hormones, there is usually a secondary pathway that balances things out.
While I’m sure the HCG camp has their own studies with good results and very few side effects, there are other studies that are actually showing the opposite. These opposing studies are showing people are losing the same weight on a placebo, yet following the same 500 k/cal diet. In addition, some people have reported severe side effects associated with taking the HCG hormone and the low calorie diet.
The side effects most often reported are headaches, acne, fluid retention, lethargy, irritability, crankiness (because they are super hungry!) blood clots, dizziness, confusion, Ovarian Hyperstimulation syndrome, stomach pain, and more!
More serious side effects are also possible associated with consuming only 500 k/cal per day. These include slowing of the metabolism, an imbalance of electrolytes and minerals, nutrient deficiencies, depression, osteoporosis, breakdown of glucose from other sources such as your brain and other vital organs, anemia, or irregular heart beat.
Besides the physical and emotional side effects from taking the hormone, there is also danger in the current regulations. The HCG diet and injections have not been approved by the FDA. You are taking a risk every time you go into a clinic that administers the shots. Now, because HCG is also available in drops online, there is a risk that you are not getting what you pay for. Your drops may be diluted, tampered, or modified without any way for you to know.
To add insult to an already sketchy program, it is recommended while in the HCG diet to not exercise. HCG dieters certainly begin to not only lose fat, but they are also losing muscle. Without the assistance of exercise, the temporary weight loss will not last.
The bottom line is although our bodies do produce this hormone naturally and on its own, there are controls that occur within our bodies to produce the right amount. When you artificially increase the amount, or mess around with the balance, disease and illness is possible. Combine this with all the consequences of a very low calorie diet, and the results can be dangerous.