Utility of an oral formulation of hCG for obesity treatment: A Double-Blind study
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Authors:
Daniel O. Belluscio MD
Leonor E. Ripamonte MD
Additional information can be requested at:
Dr. Daniel Belluscio
The oral hCG Research Clinic
Summary:
To assess the validity of the hypothesis that hCG (Human Choriogonadotropin) mobilizes fat from deposits of fat, the authors designed a Double Blind Study performed on obese volunteers.
The result of this study suggests that oral administration of hCG , in the course of a Very-Low-Calorie Diet (VLCD), significantly decreases the total amount of subcutaneous body fat from specific deposits of fat. Since an increased amount of body fat is responsible for the genesis and maintenance of obesity, the authors suggest that hCG may be useful for obesity treatment.
Both Placebo and hCG-treated patients were managed with the same Very Low Calorie Diet. hCG-treated volunteers lost more body fat than their Placebo counterparts.
Keywords: Obesity, obesidad, weight gain, weight loss, adipose tissue, fat, tejido graso, grasa, dieta, dietas, ganancia de peso, hipercolesterolemia, hypercholesterolemia, food, weight regain, obesity drugs, anti-obesity, alimentacion, BMI.
Introduction.
About forty years ago, a Physician published in the publication The Lancet, an unusual approach to the treatment of obesity (33,34). It consisted in the administration of small amounts of hCG (Human Choriogonadotropin), a substance secreted by the human placenta, to obese patients who were also put on a Very Low Calorie Diet (500 Kcal/day). He stated that obese individuals lost fat from fat deposits, felt better during treatment and improved the shape of their bodies.
The method was used, and misused, for about twenty years, until a series of tests (blind and open) led to the conclusion that this approach to obesity rendered the same results concerning weight loss both in Placebo and hCG-treated patients.(2,7, 14,15, 26, 32, 35,36,41).
Recent investigations demonstrate conclusively that it is possible to lose a great amount of weight at the expense of lean (instead of fat) tissue. Consequently, an important issue in any weight reduction program is knowing whether patients are losing lean body mass instead of fat.
Since no assessment of the fat to lean weight loss ratio was performed in those previous studies and, in our experience hCG has a metabolic action on fat masses, we have designed a new Research Protocol comprising parameters not included in previous studies.