Garcinia Cambogia
The plant received much attention due to its alleged weight-loss superpowers. In 2012, in the US, a well-known celebrity doctor promoted garcinia extract as "an exciting breakthrough in natural weight loss". However, garcinia extract had little scientific evidence of efficacy. There are reported cases of liver toxicity in people who were taking garcinia cambogia products, and The FDA considers it unsafe.
Usage
Weight Loss
Promoted as a weight loss aid. Has shown some promise in studies.
High Cholesterol
Some research has found that garcinia cambogia may improve cholesterol levels, lowering triglycerides & LDL.
Appetite Suppressant
Has also been reported to increase the release or availability of serotonin in the brain, thereby leading to appetite suppression.
How to add Garcinia Cambogia to your diet?
Make a Tea
It’s recommend to take garcinia tea before meal.
Supplement
Comes in the form of a liquid extract, capsule, and powder.
Garcinia cambogia is native to India and Southeast Asia, and it has been used as a condiment and food preservative.
Looks like a small yellowish, greenish, or sometimes reddish pumpkin.
It thrives in most moist forests.
Promoted as a breakthrough in natural weight loss.
About
Garcinia gummi-gutta, formerly known as Garcinia cambogia, is a tropical plant species native to Indonesia. It is one of several closely related Garcinia species from the plant family Clusiaceae. With thin skin and deep vertical lobes, the fruit of G. gummi-gutta and related species range from about the size of an orange to that of a grapefruit; G. gummi-gutta looks more like a small yellowish, greenish, or sometimes reddish pumpkin.
It is grown for its fruit in Southeast Asia, India, Sri Lanka, and west and central Africa. It thrives in most moist forests.
Safety
Garcinia species are generally evergreen trees and shrubs, dioecious, and in several cases, apomictic. Its phytochemical content includes hydroxycitric acid, which is extractable and developed as a dietary supplement. Other compounds identified in the fruit include polyphenols, luteolin, and kaempferol.
Composition
Review that examined the efficacy of Garcinia extract as a weight reduction agent used data from randomised clinical trials. The meta-analysis revealed a small, statistically significant difference in weight loss favouring garcinia extract over placebo and it was concluded that the plant can cause short-term weight loss, though the magnitude of the effect is small.
Regardless of the controversy, garcinia has a long tradition in ethnobotany. The dried fruit acts as a bacteriostatic agent and, when combined with salt, is great for curing fish, which is a practice in India and Sri Lanka.
Traditionally, it was also used as an additive to make meals more filling. Medical uses include rheumatism treatment, nervous bowels, and veterinary medicine to treat mouth diseases in cattle. Although edible, fruits are sour and rarely used fresh.
Another commonly used form of garcinia is a tonic which contains a high concentration of vitamin C. Usual indication for the tonic is heart weakness.
Safety
Recently, the safety of garcinia supplements for weight control has been called into question in various news reports. To add to the confusion, some researchers state that the extract is safe while others disagree. A number of reports about the toxicity of the plant itself or G. Cambogia-containing supplements are available and the majority of reports revealed that HCA in its content does not have significant toxic effects.
However, formulations containing G. Cambogia as a key ingredient in addition to other ingredients have exhibited various toxic effects, such as toxicity towards spermatogenesis. The “no observed adverse effect level” of up to 2800 mg/day suggests that it is safe for use.
Fun Facts
The sour flesh of the garcinia puckers lips and it is often pickled and used as a condiment by the locals.
Sources
Fassina, P., Adami, F. S., Zani, V. T., Machado, I. C. K., Garavaglia, J., Grave, M. T. Q., ... & Dal Bosco, S. M. (2015). The effect of Garcinia cambogia as coadjuvant in the weight loss process. Nutricion hospitalaria, 32(6), 2400-2408.
Márquez, F., Babio, N., Bulló, M., & Salas-Salvadó, J. (2012). Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of hydroxycitric acid or Garcinia cambogia extracts in humans. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 52(7), 585-594.
Toromanyan E, Aslanyan G, Amroyan E, Gabrielyan E, Panossian A. Efficacy of Slim339® in reducing body weight of overweight and obese human subjects. Phytotherapy Research. 2007;21(12):1177–1181. [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Ref list]