HCG - Human chorionic gonadotrophin.
HCG has been getting a lot of exposure on the internet recently. It is the latest wonder-drug breakthrough that promises to change the lives of fat people forever. Take the pill and you lose weight - the holy grail!
It's not true though.
Much of what is being sold on the internet is either "homoeopathic" (i.e. just distilled water sold in fancy bottles at a high price) or is something else altogether.
But the thing is, would you really want to take it if you really knew what it is was?
HCG - human chorionic gonadotrophin is a hormone released during pregnancy and is really important in foetal growth and development. Foetuses, not people who eat too much!
Oh, HCG is also produced by some types of cancerous tumours, and so a raised HCG in someone who isn't pregnant is a possible marker for cancer.
HCG is also very important in terms of conception, so it is given under medical supervision to some women who are attempting to conceive.
The source of HCG is urine from pregnant women. It's extracted from their urine.
The role of HCG is people trying to lose weight remains controversial and the American Medical Association do not regard its use for weight loss to be clinically effective or safe.
Of course, devotees of HCG don't believe the motives of the AMA accusing them as always of some kind of conspiracy to control the world. How tiresome this is, the way such people pick and choose which doctor is part of the conspiracy or not. It was the now-deceased British doctor, Albert T. W. Simeon's work with really low-calorie diets for weight loss (less than 500 calories a day) that led to the popularisation of HCG. His work involved feeding people ridiculously low calories and injecting them with HCG. Needless to say, they lost weight.
He starved them and injected them with extracts of urine. Lovely!
Listen to the experts and save your money. If the AMA say that using HCG is not a good idea, they are probably correct. Until further research is done to prove or disprove HCG use, either way, don't do it!