In 1954, a British endocrinologist (hormone specialist) named Dr. Albert Theodore William Simeons published a book called Pounds and Inches. In the book he detailed his belief that a hormone found in pregnant women’s urine, called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), had qualities that could help with weight loss. All one had to do was ingest a few drops of the stuff and along with a low calorie diet, and the pounds would disappear as if by magic.
Since then there have been many products on the market with HCG, claiming to help with weight loss. But is there any evidence to back these claims? Or is this all just a kabuki show, made to look nice and distract while proving nothing at all? We decided to look into the HCG drops, and see if they were really what they are claimed to be.
Actual HCG can be found in the urine of pregnant women, but no product nowadays actually includes this in their products. Instead there are companies that use the HCG name alone, regardless of what is actually inside of it. One of these producers of HCG products includes the Salt Lake City, Utah based Creative Biosciences. HCG drops can be purchased online or from a variety of health and dietary supplement retailers.
HCG drops work by keeping a consistency between two separate factors. The first factor is having a very strict, regimented diet plan. HCG drops usually come with a low calorie diet plan for the users to follow, around 500 calories a day. These diet plans can consist of separate phases that the user is supposed to follow to see weight loss.
The second factor is taking the HCG drop itself. These drops are to be applied before a meal. While it may seem on the surface that a combination of these factors is what contributes to weight loss, it can also be that the diet plan consists of such low calorie intake that the user is bound to lose weight regardless, as long as they follow the plan.
Users who have used this product have reported subpar results, while the effects of the actual HCG drops remain questionable.
Generally it is unknown what goes into an HCG Drops, other than the HCG hormone. Some claim that whatever the solution is, it is heavily diluted in water, and really amounting to no more than a placebo, with any effects being entirely based on the user and how consistently they keep with the diet. Even though this seems all natural, there really may be not much to this product, other than the effects the user may think on their own have contributed to anything. If you are interested in dietary supplements that are all natural and actually work, please check out the top 10 list.
Side effects: headaches, insomnia, depression, irritability, low blood sugar, water retention, increased risk of gall stones, diarrhea, constipation and a slower metabolism.
Serious side effects: Vomiting, abdominal pain and swelling, infrequent urination, nausea, swelling of the lower extremities and weight gain.
HCG drops are just that; drops. All you need to do is dot a few of them on your tongue. This is nothing like a hard to swallow pill.
HCG drops promise a lot, but there is little evidence that this product even works. In 2024 the FDA banned the sale of these products, calling them fraudulent and illegal. While there are products out there with the mention of HCG, nowadays none of these products actually contain HCG. For example, Creative Bioscience’s HCG 1234 contains no actual HCG.
It should also be noted that an important aspect in these drops, is the very low calorie diet. With 500 calories being an average amount that this diet suggests it’s users adhere to, this amounts to little more than a starvation diet with a few drops of HCG to top it off. If anything, this diet will slow the metabolism, meaning this whole endeavor may eventually backfire.
This isn’t even mentioning that HCG is commonly not even used for weight loss, but for boosting testosterone in men and fertility in women. So when one takes that into consideration one really has to wonder, what does HCG really even have to do with weight loss anyway?
While promising a drastic decrease in weight and fat in it’s users, HCG drops don’t live up to their claims at all. When including the diet plan into the equation, this all just boils down to an unsuccessful starvation diet.
Bottom Line:
Weight loss is something that many people yearn for, yet few actually understand what it takes to really see the pounds shed off. HCG drops seem like a good idea in theory, until you realize most of what you are doing is starving yourself, which in any case, is never good. Don’t go wasting your time and money on this product. There are plenty of other, cheaper dietary supplements out there that actually work. HCG drops are a con, promising it’s users the world, but leaving them with nothing, not even the money they spent to buy the product in the first place.
We strongly recommend that you look elsewhere for dietary supplements that are better and more effective for you.
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