Three different things share the name, and the one you have heard of is the one with no evidence behind it.
hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, is an approved prescription drug sold as Pregnyl, Novarel and Ovidrel. It treats infertility, a form of low testosterone, and undescended testicles in boys. Not weight loss.
The hCG diet is a 1950s idea that has been tested repeatedly and does not work. Since 1975 the FDA has required hCG labelling to say so in those words.
And in this market, most people buying it are not dieting at all. They are using it alongside testosterone replacement therapy, which is why it sits on peptide sites next to compounds it has nothing chemically in common with.
It is also not a peptide, and it is not measured in milligrams, which breaks most of the arithmetic people bring to it.
What is hCG approved for?
Three indications, none of them weight.
Inducing ovulation in fertility treatment. Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, where the signal from the brain to the testicles is missing. And cryptorchidism, undescended testicles, in boys.
It works by mimicking luteinising hormone, the signal that tells the testicles to make testosterone and sperm, or the ovary to release an egg. That single mechanism explains every legitimate use and every off-label one.
The diet, and the sentence the FDA made them print
The official position has been settled for fifty years, which is the striking part.
The diet comes from Albert Simeons in the 1950s: hCG injections alongside a 500 calorie a day diet, with the claim that the hormone mobilises stored fat and suppresses the hunger such a diet would otherwise cause.
A 1995 meta-analysis of 24 studies found no evidence that hCG helps with weight, hunger, or where fat comes off.
Since 1975 the FDA has required this to appear on the labelling, and it is still there. Open the current Pregnyl prescribing information and the indications section opens in capitals: HCG has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity. There is no substantial evidence that it increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or normal distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets.14
Note where that sits. It is not a footnote or a warning further down. It is the first thing under the heading that tells a prescriber what the drug is for.
Read that again: the regulator has required the manufacturers to print the refutation on the product since 1975. In 1976 the FTC ordered the clinics running these programmes to tell patients the same thing in writing.
What makes the diet produce weight loss is the 500 calories. Anyone would lose weight on that, which is the point the trials keep making and the reason the hormone adds nothing.
In 2011 the FDA and FTC jointly warned seven companies selling over-the-counter homeopathic hCG drops and pellets for weight loss. Those products are not approved for anything.
Why is hCG sold on peptide sites?
Because of TRT, not dieting.
Taking testosterone suppresses the body's own signal to the testicles, which shrink and stop producing sperm. hCG substitutes for that missing signal. That is its role alongside TRT and in fertility treatment.
Our compound record gives the typical figure as 250 to 500 IU per dose, two to three times a week, alongside TRT. That is the use driving almost all of the listings we track, and it has nothing to do with the diet that gives hCG its name recognition.
So two groups arrive at the same product from opposite directions, and the search results they find are mostly written for the other one.
It is not a peptide, and not measured in milligrams
Two practical points, and the second one causes real errors.
hCG is a glycoprotein hormone: two chains of 145 and 92 amino acids, with sugar chains attached. Those sugars are part of what makes it work, and no synthesiser can add them. It sits on peptide sites by association, not chemistry.
It is also dosed in international units rather than milligrams. An international unit is a measure of biological activity, not mass, and the conversion is specific to the substance. In our capture, 24 hCG listings state a size in IU; the rest do not state a size.2
That matters because every reconstitution calculator, including ours, works in milligrams. You cannot put an IU figure into a mg field and get a meaningful answer. Only three compounds in our library are priced in IU at all: hCG, hGH and hMG.
Why is compounded hCG no longer available?
A regulatory change in 2020 explains something people noticed at the time without being told why.
On 23 March 2020, hCG was reclassified as a biological product under the transition set out in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act. Compounding exemptions in sections 503A and 503B of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act apply to drugs, not biologics, so compounded hCG lost the pathway it had been made under.3
In practical terms, the cheaper compounded hCG that clinics and telehealth providers had been prescribing became unavailable through most pharmacies more or less overnight. What remained were the branded approved products, at a higher price.
That is the same mechanism now shaping the peptide compounding debate, and it happened to hCG six years ago. Our coverage of the FDA compounding decisions follows the current version of that story.
Where does grey-market hCG come from?
A sharper question than it is for anything else on these sites, and almost nobody asks it.
A peptide like BPC-157 can be made on a synthesiser. The sequence is short, the chemistry is routine, and a competent lab anywhere can produce it. That is the whole reason this market exists in the form it does.
hCG cannot be made that way. It is a glycoprotein with sugar chains attached, and those sugars are added by living cells. Approved hCG is either purified from the urine of pregnant women or produced in cultured cells, both of which need facilities a peptide shop does not have.
So a vial labelled hCG was not synthesised by the seller. It came from somewhere: a licensed manufacturer's supply diverted along the way, a facility in a country with different oversight, or it is not hCG at all. Nothing on the label distinguishes those.
That does not make grey-market hCG worse than grey-market peptides. It makes the provenance question different, and worth asking out loud rather than assuming the usual answer about purity testing applies.
What are the side effects of hCG?
The label lists them, and they split by who is taking it.4
For anyone: headache, irritability, restlessness, depression, fatigue, oedema and pain at the injection site. Hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis have been reported, and the label notes these particularly with urinary-derived products.
In men: the label says hCG treatment may sporadically cause gynecomastia, breast tissue growth. Water and sodium retention is seen occasionally after high doses, which the label attributes to excessive androgen production. hCG is contraindicated in prostate cancer or any other androgen-dependent tumour, for the same reason.
In women: ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is the serious one. The label describes it as a medical event that may progress rapidly, reaching its maximum about seven to ten days after treatment, and lists ascites, pleural effusion, blood clots and ovarian torsion among its complications. Severe cases can be life-threatening.
The label's own instruction around OHSS is the part that does not transfer outside a clinic: adherence to the dose and careful monitoring of ovarian response, with hCG withheld if OHSS looks to be developing. That monitoring is a person watching, not a rule you can follow alone.
Does hCG affect a pregnancy test?
Yes, it makes one positive, and this catches people out.
Home pregnancy tests detect hCG. That is the whole mechanism. Injected hCG is the same hormone, so a test taken while it is still in your system reads positive whether or not anyone is pregnant.
It clears slowly: the label reports an initial half-life of 5.6 to 11 hours and a longer terminal phase.4 In practice fertility clinics advise waiting around ten days to two weeks after a trigger shot before testing, which is guidance from practice rather than from the label. A test taken too early after one reads positive and means nothing.
This matters in two directions: someone on hCG getting a positive test that is not a pregnancy, and someone in fertility treatment reading a trigger shot as a result.
What sellers are listing
Twenty-two of the sellers we track list hCG, across 27 listings, all in vials.2 Two are kits rather than single vials, and are excluded from the prices below.
The most common single-vial size is 5,000 IU, found in 19 of the 22 sized single-vial listings. Among the 5,000 IU single vials with exact prices, the median is $49.99 and the range is $28.99 to $95.00. A smaller number list 10,000 IU; the two with exact prices run $70 and $84.
A threefold spread on an identical stated amount is unremarkable here, and narrower than most compounds we track. hCG is manufactured rather than synthesised by sellers, which may be why its prices cluster more tightly than peptide prices do.
Common questions
Does hCG help you lose weight?
No. A 1995 meta-analysis of 24 studies found no evidence it affects weight, hunger or fat distribution, and since 1975 the FDA has required hCG labelling to state that there is no substantial evidence it increases weight loss beyond the calorie restriction that accompanies it.
Is hCG approved by the FDA?
Yes, for three things: inducing ovulation in fertility treatment, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, and undescended testicles in boys. Not for weight loss, and no over-the-counter or homeopathic hCG product is approved for anything.
Why do people take hCG with TRT?
Testosterone replacement suppresses the body's own signal to the testicles, which shrink and stop producing sperm. hCG mimics that signal, so it is used to maintain testicular function and fertility alongside TRT.
Is hCG a peptide?
No. It is a glycoprotein hormone, two chains of 145 and 92 amino acids with sugar chains attached, and those sugars are part of how it works. It is sold beside peptides by association rather than chemistry.
Why is hCG measured in IU instead of mg?
Because an international unit measures biological activity rather than mass. Only three compounds in our library are priced that way: hCG, hGH and hMG. An IU figure cannot be entered into a milligram-based dose calculator.
Why did compounded hCG become hard to get?
On 23 March 2020 it was reclassified as a biological product, and the compounding exemptions in sections 503A and 503B apply to drugs rather than biologics. Compounded hCG lost its legal pathway, leaving the branded approved products.
Will hCG make a pregnancy test positive?
Yes. Pregnancy tests detect hCG, and injected hCG is the same hormone, so a test taken while it is still in your system reads positive regardless. It takes roughly ten days to two weeks to clear depending on dose.
What are the side effects of hCG?
The label lists headache, irritability, restlessness, depression, fatigue, oedema and injection site pain for anyone. In men it says hCG may sporadically cause gynecomastia, with fluid retention after high doses. In women the serious risk is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can progress rapidly and is why fertility treatment is monitored closely around the trigger shot.
Can grey-market hCG even be real?
It cannot be synthesised the way peptides are. hCG is a glycoprotein whose sugar chains are added by living cells, so it is either purified from pregnant urine or grown in cell culture. A vial on a research site came from a manufacturer somewhere, or it is not hCG, and the label does not tell you which.
What does hCG cost?
In our capture, a 5,000 IU single vial runs a median of $49.99, from $28.99 to $95.00 across sellers. That threefold spread is narrower than most compounds we track.
Is the hCG diet dangerous?
The 500 calorie a day component is the part that carries risk, independent of the hormone. Very low calorie diets of that kind are the reason regulators and professional bodies have objected to the protocol rather than only to the injections.
Sources
- US Food and Drug Administration labelling requirement for hCG, in force since 1975, and the Federal Trade Commission order of 1976 against clinics operating hCG weight-loss programmes.
- Peptide Decoding compound library and vendor price capture, 1 October 2026. peptidedecoding.com/prices.
- US Food and Drug Administration. Notice to Compounders: Changes That Affect Compounding as of March 23, 2020. fda.gov.
- Pregnyl (chorionic gonadotropin) for injection, prescribing information. accessdata.fda.gov.
Citing this page. Peptide Decoding. What Is hCG, and Why Is It Sold Beside Peptides? Listing figures from the 1 October 2026 capture. https://peptidedecoding.com/guides/what-is-hcg