Many people are surprised to learn that the history of HCG diets goes
back almost sixty years. Although HCG diets have gained widespread
attention only in recent years, the basic research behind these programs
dates back to the 1950s, and it originated in India.
Dr. Simeons Goes to Mumbhai
Dr. A.T.W. Simeons was born in London, U.K. early in the 20th Century.
After the First World War, he attended medical school at the University
of Heidelberg, Germany, where he graduated with honors. Following this,
he went on to additional training in endocrinology at Swiss and German
facilities, eventually taking up a post at a hospital near Dresden.
Eventually, Dr. Simeons developed an interest in tropical diseases. Over
the next few years, this interest led him to Africa and eventually to
Bombay (Mumbhai), India in 1931. Here he would remain until 1949.
During his years in India, Dr. Simeons studied the effects of
malnutrition in expectant mothers as well as the causes and effects of
obesity in patients with disorders of the pituitary gland. It was during
the course of this research that he came to a startling conclusion about
the nature of obesity. In his seminal paper Pounds & Inches: A New
Approach to Obesity, Simeons wrote:
"...obesity in all its many forms is due to an abnormal functioning of
some part of the body and that every ounce of abnormally accumulated
fat is always the result of the same disorder of certain regulatory
mechanisms. Persons suffering from this particular disorder will get fat
regardless of whether they eat excessively, normally or less than
normal. A person who is free of the disorder will never get fat, even if
he frequently overeats." (1954)
The Cure for Obesity
Treating obese patients, Dr. Simeons discovered that by administering
low doses of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), a water-soluble hormone
produced by the fetus during gestation and present in the urine of
pregnant women, patients actually began utilizing fat instead of lean
muscle tissue when fed a calorie-restricted diet.
What has been discovered since that time is that HCG is responsible for
the regulation of the hypothalamus gland, which controls metabolism and
the use of bodily resources such as fat. While all persons are born with
an abundant supply of HCG, this is depleted by adulthood. Replacement of
HCG corrects the imbalance and reprograms the hypothalamus to use fat
stores when caloric intake is reduced.