Many people are surprised to discover that the origins of the HCG treatment did not involve weight loss or the treatment of obesity at all. In fact, Dr. Simeons’ main focus was curing an unusual endocrine disorder that delays the onset of puberty in teen-aged boys. As it turns out, this particular condition – dysfunction of the pituitary gland – also causes extreme obesity in such patients.
Therein lies the tale.
Dr. Simeons Treats the “Fat Boys”
Dr. Albert Simeons was a gifted endocrinologist who lived between 1900 and 1976. A graduate of the prestigious University of Heidelberg School of Medicine, Dr. Simeons developed an interest in tropical diseases; in fact, among medical scientists, he is best remembered for developing a diagnostic tool for malaria.
His interest in diseases such as malaria and dengue fever led him to sub-Saharan Africa for a time, and then, in 1930, to a hospital in Mumbai, India, where he spent the next two decades of his career.
Endocrinology was a relatively new branch of medicine in those days. Research had shown that when injected with a hormone produced by pregnant women, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, pre-pubescent rats would experience sexual maturity. Eventually, this became a treatment for Froelich’s Disease, a pituitary condition that causes the symptoms described above.
When Dr. Simeons administered this treatment however, he noticed another result: significant weight loss. Over the next several years, Dr. Simeons came to many startling conclusions about the nature of obesity, most of which even today fly in the face of commonly accepted wisdom on the subject.
Obesity is Not Simple
It is common, and even popular to blame the current epidemic of obesity on laziness, over-indulgence and lack of willpower – but Dr. Simeons realized early on that obesity was in fact the result of many complex variables, including genetic and societal factors. One of the most interesting conclusions had to do with the nature of agrarian-based society:
“In pre-Neolithic times, man ate only when he was hungry and only as
much as he required too still the pangs of hunger. Moreover, much of his
food was raw and all of it was unrefined.”
Then, about 10,000 years ago, the development of agriculture and its labor demands changed everything:
“The institution of regular meals meant that man had to eat more
than his body required at the moment of eating so as to tide him
over until the next meal. Food rendered easily digestible suddenly
flooded his body with nourishment of which he was in no need at
the moment. Somehow, somewhere this surplus had to be stored.”
- From Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity by A.T.W. Simeons
Learn More
At our home page here at HCG Diet Direct, you can download the entire manuscript of Pounds and Inches free of charge. This is the 1954 paper in which Dr. Simeons discusses all of his findings about obesity and its many causes, as well as how the HCG hormone can be used to address the issue of fast and effective weight loss.
