hCG Diet History

Dr. A.T. W. Simeon discovered the possibility of the hCG diet. While working in Rome he found his obese patients responded very well to this treatment. They received small, regular doses and fat in resistant areas. His work noted that it seemed to target stubborn areas. If you want to read his original work on diets and hCG the book is called, “ Pounds and Inches—a New Approach to Obesity.”

The hCG diet seems to work based on the potential link between specific brain functions and the difficulty of loosing stubborn fat. The hypothalamus, which regulates body temperature and other things, is affected by hCG. The diencephalon, directly connected to eating function such as chewing, swallowing, saliva, taste and smell also responds to hCG. Dr. Simon used hCG to improve the function of obese brains and we now know what areas of the brain are involved.

Since then hCG diets have gained in popularity. In the United States the hormone as diet therapy has both proponents and opponents. Going back as far as 1975 the FDA required the Simeon Company selling the product and program to alter the language informing consumers that the hCG hormone was not approved for this use.

Thanks to the controversy, the diet when out of vogue. That changed in 2007 when Mr. Kevin Trudeau published his book highlighting the diet. In his opinion, the hCG diet was suppressed by commercial interests to increase the sale of prescriptions for weight loss. One of the outcomes of Mr. Trudeau’s publication and sales program was a large fine imposed by the FTC for his breaking the legal restrictions imposed on hCG diets in the 1970s.

The hormone is an FDA-approved drug for use as an infertility treatment. It is not approved for dieting. Most is anecdotal—personal stories. Modern science does not consider stories primary evidence. As a result, each person must make the decision with their own physician about undertaking an hCG diet.