If you’re starting to plan a family, perhaps you’ve run across information on hCG injections for infertility.
Yet, in the process, you may have also noticed that hCG is increasingly used for those trying to lose weight. How did this happen? And is it safe?
We’ll take a look at the benefits of hCG to boost pregnancy, as well as the “skinny” on using it for dieting purposes.
What Is HCG?
Every woman who’s ever taken a pregnancy test has been attempting to find her human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, levels. This is the hormone that determines if the test will show up positive or negative.
HCG is created by cells formed in the placenta. Levels are first detected in the blood 11 days after conception. It typically takes 12-14 days to show up in urine tests.
From that point, hCG levels typically double every 72 hours until it reaches its peak toward the end of the first trimester. After that, levels decline then plateau for the remainder of the pregnancy.
As such, hCG is often dubbed the “pregnancy hormone.” It is currently approved by the FDA to help physicians treat infertility in women.
Can HCG Help Men?
Yes. It turns out that hCG injections for men are also proving effective in treating infertility.
HCG injections are FDA-approved when administered by a physician for the treatment of hypogonadism in men. This condition renders men unable to produce adequate amounts of testosterone. The lower testosterone levels resulting from hypogonadism can also lead to infertility issues.
So obviously hCG is effective in helping to boost pregnancy. But what about the claims that people are using hCG injections for weight loss?
Could HCG Injections Help You Lose Weight?
While using hCG injections for infertility, some people found that it was also an appetite suppressant. Soon enough, the dieting world got wind of this and figured, why not use hCG as part of a dieting plan?
In fact, the hCG diet has been around since the 1950s — though this doesn’t exactly bode well for its efficacy given how little we knew about dieting back then.
Today, you can buy hCG supplies online (take a look here). But the hCG diet is more than simply buying hCG injection kits online and using them to put the kibosh on your appetite. The hCG diet itself is a highly restrictive very-low-calorie diet (VLCD) and incredibly difficult to maintain.
Under this eating plan, you are allowed only 500 calories per day, and there are strict parameters around what you can consume. In addition, VLCDs as a means of achieving weight loss can have serious side effects such as malnutrition, irregular heartbeat, gallstones, and change in mood.
It’s also important to note that hCG injections for weight loss purposes are not FDA-approved and there’s no evidence to show that it’s effective. So if you choose this route, tread lightly.
Two Sides of a Coin
The science seems to show that hCG injections could be helpful for boosting fertility in those having trouble conceiving. And they could be something akin to a miracle in that case.
As far as using hCG for dieting, do the necessary research, and use your own discretion. There are likely more effective ways.
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