Women, and some men, are injecting a pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), to lose weight. (Derived from the urine of pregnant women.) They're combining it with a 500-calorie-a-day diet. The hormone is supposed to encourage fat loss "in all the right places," and to discourage fatigue and hunger from the dearth of calories:Diet Plan With Hormone Has Fans And Skeptics, New York Times, March 7, 2011
The FDA says it doesn't work. People spending upwards of $1000/month think it does, or will. Major League Baseball outfielder Manny Ramirez took it. I'm not sure - there's a very strong placebo effect in paying lots of money, injecting yourself with a difficult-to-obtain substance, and keeping regular meetings with attentive healthcare professionals, better yet, high-profile Manhattan doctors.
If money was no object, would you inject it to lose weight?
3 comments:
Bix,
I was thinking the same thing before I got to your second paragraph. I tweeted this short on placebos just yesterday: http://tinyurl.com/6jjw5r8
Also, it just sounds like a plain bad idea.
shaun
Loved that placebo video!
are they sure it's Hcg they're injecting and not heroine? At 500 calories a day a normal adult would start to crash badly after a few weeks
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