The revival of the HCG diet has become a growing cause of concern for many weight loss specialists. They consider it as a dangerous diet that can actually deprive one’s body of essential nutrients. Dr David Katz, Yale University Prevention Research Center Director is one of the specialists who want to stop exploitation of obese people desperately looking for a cure for their condition. Dr. Katz HCG diet firmly objects the idea of giving HCG injections to lose weight. According to him, it is a bogus diet that only leads to loss of money.
Dr. Katz HCG Diet Dangers
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or HCG is a hormone produce during pregnancy in order to assist with the regulation of development of fetus. The presence of this hormone is vital for the developing embryo as it has an important role in the exchange of nutrients from the mother’s blood to the fetus via the placenta. The supporters of HCG diet claim that the administration of the hormone can suppress appetitive thereby enabling you to survive on a very low calorie diet without causing any depletion in the energy level.
According to Dr. Katz, no studies have proven the hunger suppressing effect of the hormone. So, Dr. Katz HCG diet encourages people to follow a weight loss program that do not place any stress on your health. No one realizes the fact that HCG hormone can stimulate the ovaries and cause changes in the levels of ovarian hormones including estrogen and progesterone. This imbalance is the basic reason for the formation of ovarian cysts. Even though this hasn’t been proved, Dr. Katz believes that the unnecessary use of HCG hormone can increase the risk for cancer. He also stresses that the only people who supports the HCG diet are the ones who sell it. He advises obese people to stay away from such diets that can be a threat to their health. The best way to control weight is by eating a balanced meal and staying physically active to burn the calories. People with severe obesity problems can think about bariatric surgery which is the effective option for losing weight fast.
Dr. Katz HCG Diet: Scientific Evidences
Dr. Katz looked for scientific evidences that support the HCG diet but he couldn’t find any supporting documents. Instead, he came up with a list of scientific literature that depicts the ineffectiveness of the diet clearly. One of them is a double-blind, placebo-controlled trail conducted by the Department of Medical Physiology and Biochemistry of University of Stellenbosch. In this study, 40 obese woman where placed on a strict diet and daily intra muscular injections of HCG were given for a period of six days a week for six weeks. The results were compared to a placebo study conducted under the same conditions. The woman who received HCG shots didn’t show any advantage over those who were in the placebo group. Another double blind study conducted in 1976 also indicates that there is no significant difference in the percent of weight loss achieved by the two groups.
