Dominic Sardone, a Port St. Lucie Web developer, is ecstatic about losing nearly 100 pounds on the HCG diet.
"I had almost given up. I had tried everything. In the first 40 days, I lost 50 pounds," Sardone said.
What's the HCG diet? It's a weight-loss craze based on prescription-only pills or injections containing human chorionic gonadotrophin, a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. There's also a version that uses HCG drops, sold on the Internet, at drugstores and elsewhere without a prescription. Some brands of the drops purport to contain HCG, while others tout a synthetic version.
No matter which type of HCG diet people are using, all require consumption of a mere 500 calories a day, about one-third to one-fourth of the caloric intake people need. But losing a pound a day motivates people to stay on the diet.
Sardone, 49, is on his third 40-day round of HCG, which he injects into his abdomen every day. He can't say enough good things about the diet, which he first tried in July. When he is not on the diet, he sticks to a 2,000-calorie per day maintenance regimen of healthful foods.
He receives a supply of filled syringes during weekly visits to New Beginnings Medical Weight Loss Clinic, with centers in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Stuart, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach and Fort Myers.
"It saved my life. It's unbelievable. I have been a really heavy guy my whole life," Sardone said.
The mainstream medical community calls HCG a scam that Americans are spending millions of dollars on. It's nothing more than a crash diet with expensive drops or injections that are merely a placebo, they say. People will invariably lose weight on a 500-calorie-a-day diet, and HCG has nothing to do with it, say half a dozen physicians contacted.
"It is pure marketing hype, and a dreadful, dangerous diet," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University.
"All of the weight loss is explained by the 500 calories. I have reviewed the literature on HCG, and find no credible evidence that it produces weight loss. There is some potential toxicity of the HCG - related mostly to hormonal imbalances - but the greater danger is the calorie level. At caloric intake below 800, there is a risk of life-threatening protein deficiencies," Katz said.
"People sign up for this sort of thing because hope springs eternal for a magical quick fix. There isn't one, and if there were, it certainly wouldn't be this," Katz said.
Dr. Dean Sloan, a Delray Beach bariatric physician said, "It's the hot thing right now. I am sure it will fizzle out as everybody starts regaining their weight, like every fad. In the diet industry you have an enormous population of people who are desperate and struggling to lose weight. The only way to permanently solve a weight problem is to permanently change your lifestyle."
Like Sloan, other physicians and dietitians recommend finding a qualified medical person who specializes in weight loss and coming up with a long-term, sustainable plan.
Jo Lynn Hansen, New Beginnings HCG clinical director, said, "It is not just the HCG. It is not a magic bullet. You have to follow the protocol."
New Beginnings follows the protocol established by Dr. Albert Simeons, a British physician who published his recommendation for the 500-calorie-a-day diet and hormone injections in 1954.
"We have people flying from all over the country," Hansen said. "You will lose an amazing amount of weight in a very short time."
In the past two years, the clinic, now under the supervision of Dr. Clarnuelyn Pajo-Silao, has prescribed the hormone to about 2,500 patients on either a 23-day or 40-day cycle. It reports a 95 percent success rate. The 23-day treatment costs $495, and 40 days is $595, Hansen said.
Hansen said HCG works by releasing abnormal fat back into the blood stream as nourishment.
"With only a 500-calorie diet for 23 or 40 straight days, a patient would not lose the pounds and inches that we experience because the metabolism would slow down drastically to compensate. Our patients are able to feel very little hunger and an overall sense of well-being," Hansen said.
A number of other South Florida weight loss clinics offer the injections, including The Wellington Institute, Palm Beach Wellness Center, Advanced Weight Loss Centers of the Palm Beaches and Nuviva Medical Weight Loss.
It's the 500 calories, not HCG
Dr. Holly Hadley, a Juno Beach-based physician who specializes in bariatric medicine, and does not prescribe HCG, explains the fat-burning that occurs on the diet another way.
People on a 500-calorie a day diet will go into ketosis, Hadley said.
"Ketosis is when you are taking in so few calories that you must turn to your own fat to break it down. When you metabolize fat, the byproduct is called ketone. After three days of ketosis, you won't be hungry any more. It has nothing to do with the HCG," Hadley said.
People on low-calorie diets need to be monitored, because they are at risk for developing gallstones, she said.
Hadley said numerous clinical trials have concluded that HCG is ineffectual in weight loss.
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved HCG for weight loss, said Elizabeth Miller, FDA Internet and Health Fraud Team leader.
"It is very alarming that people would be getting syringes and going home and injecting themselves," Miller said. "A number of clinical trials have debunked its efficacy. You are on a starvation diet. You will lose weight because of that."
Sloan and other physicians said that a doctor who prescribes HCG "off label," meaning for a use that is not approved, is not doing anything illegal, but in their opinions it is not ethical.
"There is a lack of science that supports the efficacy and safety," Sloan said. "I look at it as really fooling with Mother Nature and perhaps doing some harm, although we do not know if there is long-term harm from the injections. In the best scenario it will not do any good in the long run on obesity."
Dr. Craig Primack, a Scottsdale, Ariz., bariatric physician, said, "It is making a lot of non-medical people and a very few medical people money. They are preying on people who feel they have no other option."
Christine Bandy, a Palm Beach Gardens registered dietitian, said, the HCG promises are too good to be true.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is or all of the professional medical community would use it as a standard, and we would not have the obesity issues in this country that we have," Bandy said.
Dr. Daisy Merey, a West Palm Beach-based bariatric physician, said that over the past 20 years she has prescribed the hormone injections to patients who have asked for it, but the results were sketchy.
"I think the biggest factor is the fact it is accompanied by a 500-calorie diet. It is a very punitive diet, and people cannot be on it a long time," Merey said. "Some people are convinced. I don't recommend it personally."
Reporting in to be weighed each week, as most clinics require, is a valuable weight-loss tool, Merey said.
The placebo effect, where people believe something is helping them lose weight even if it is not, also comes into play, Merey said.
"It could be red licorice," Merey said. "I find it only works with a certain group of people who are very impressionable and believe in it.
"With 500 calories you are going to lose weight quickly. Is it going to be sustainable? No," Merey said.
Jeff Master, 43, of Palm Beach Gardens heard about HCG drops from friends, purchased some online and lost 29 pounds in 45 days. His wife Carolyn lost 20 pounds in one month, and a total of 24 pounds and 29 inches of body fat, Master said.
"This stuff works," Master said. "We bought more.
Master started an HCG drops business and estimates he has sold the product to "a couple hundred people." A 15-day supply is priced at $49 at www.HCGMaster.com.
"I tell people to use it as a jump-start. You can't use it as a crutch. When you are losing 1, 2 or 3 pounds a day, that keeps your motivation pretty good," Master said.
"It's not for everybody," Master said. "You have to have your mind ready to go and lose weight. It is a battle. You have to get ready for war."
As for any concerns about whether the diet or drops might prove to be unhealthy, Masters said he and his wife were at the point where they really needed to lose weight. People should see a doctor if they feel the need to.
"What is not bad for you?" Master said.
'I am a believer in it'
People who have lost weight on the HCG diet are convinced it works.
Leslie Whitwell, 50, is a Stuart resident who lost 65 pounds on the HCG diet under New Beginnings' supervision.
"I am a believer in it," said said. "I have struggled with weight all my life."
Whitwell went on the HCG diet two years ago after friends told her it worked.
She was skeptical, but after finding favorable research, tried it.
"I don't really care how it does it. I just care that it worked," Whitwell said.
Carla Heinold, 51, who lives in Port St. Lucie was also skeptical, but she did the injections provided by New Beginnings and lost 27 pounds in 40 days in 2009.
She gained 10 pounds back and went on it a year later, and lost 17 pounds.
"I weigh 40 pounds less total. I have never been a size 8 in my life," Heinold said.
Heinold said she knows of people who consumed 500 calories a day but did not do the shots, and their weight loss wasn't as rapid as hers. "The results are wonderful. You are so happy with how the weight has come off," she said.
Dr. Catherine Drourr, a Jupiter-based bariatric physician said she doesn't prescribe HCG, but believes any side effects are fairly benign.
"You have to be careful about enhancing fertility. You have to be careful about blood clots. They are generally pretty rare," Drourr said. "Whatever approach you take, it has to be for the rest of your life." |
