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What is garcinia?
Garcinia is a vegetable drug derived from the skins of the Garcinia gummi-gutta fruit.
Botanical outline
Garcinia cambogia is also known as Garcinia gummi-gutta, brindleberry, Malabar tamarindo and Kudam puli.
The Garcinia cambogia plant is a medium-sized tree with a woody trunk, which grows wild in tropical environments, typical of Indonesia and countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and southern regions of India.
The fruit from which the peel is extracted, therefore the drug, is similar to a "small pumpkin" with an intermediate color between green and light yellow.
Applications
Although garcinia has enjoyed some media attention, due to its alleged slimming effects, there is insufficient clinical evidence to indicate certain and significant effects on weight loss.
Garcinia composition
The drug extracted from Garcinia cambogia contains:
- Pectins: viscous soluble fibers that modulate intestinal absorption, prevent constipation and act as prebiotics.
- Calcium: essential mineral to the integrity of the skeleton and to the transmission of the nervous and muscular impulse
- Carbohydrates: energy macronutrients that provide 3.75 kilocalories per gram.
- Hydroxycitric acid (10-50% on the dry substance): active principle characteristic of this drug that intervenes in the cellular lipid metabolism.
Indications
When to use Garcinia cambogia?
Garcinia cambogia should:
- Facilitate weight loss
- Combat hypercholesterolemia
- Reduce hyperglycemia
- Obstructing hypertriglyceridemia.
Property and Effectiveness
The phytotherapeutic properties of garcinia would be attributable to the mildly hepatotoxic effect of hydroxycitric acid.
Compared to the most common citric acid (abundant in citrus fruits and widely used by the food industry as a preservative), hydroxycitric acid is extremely rare in nature.
This substance is abundant only in the fruits of the plants belonging to the genus Garcinia, such as Garcinia indica, Garcinia cambogia and Garcinia atroviridis.
Properties of Garcinia cambogia
Garcinia for weight loss and for lipid disorders
The hydroxycitric acid contained in garcinia is able to block the synthesis of acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), an energy substrate used by the body for the synthesis of cholesterol and other lipids. Hence its theoretically positive effect in weight loss and in the restoration of physiological lipemia.
An aid in weight control could also derive from the alleged anorectic properties of garcinia, which result in a reduction in appetite through the modulation of serotonin levels.
Effectiveness of Garcinia cambogia
Does Garcinia cambogia work?
As with many other supplements, the experimentation of Garcinia, despite the encouraging assumptions, has also led to contradictory results.
In an attempt to implement its slimming effect, it is often associated with other supplements commonly used in the treatment of overweight, such as:
- Carnitine
- Chromium picolinate
- Methylxanthines like caffeine, in its various forms
- Alkaloids such as ephedra ephedra
- Sinefrine of bitter orange (Citrus x aurantium) etc.
On the other hand, significant differences between the effects of garcinia and those of placebo have not been demonstrated in this regard.
In the experimental studies that showed a slight weight loss, the side effects proved to be excessive.
Some garcinia traders claim that the combination of HCA-SX (hydroxycitric acid in complex with calcium / potassium), with chromium polynicotinate linked to niacin (vitamin PP), or with Gymnema sylvestre, could increase the slimming effect. There is no significant scientific evidence in this regard.
Doses and Mode of Use
How to use Garcinia cambogia?
On the market there are supplements of Garcinia containing different percentages of hydroxycitric acid. In Italy there are mainly products based on 50% hydroxycitric acid.
The recommended daily dose, if this concentration is maintained, varies from 500 to 2, 000 mg of dry garcinia extract per day (250-1000 mg of hydroxycitric acid).
Side effects
What are the most frequent side effects of Garcinia cambogia?
Garcinia has no noteworthy side effects and has proved almost harmless.
Some individuals have reported side effects such as headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms (diarrhea, cramps, meteorism, etc.), however mild to moderate.
In particular, oral intake of 500 mg of PURE hydroxycitric acid four times a day can cause nausea, gastrointestinal disorders and headaches.
The hepatotoxic effect underlying the alleged weight-loss mechanism has played a negative role in long-term product sales.
Contraindications
When should Garcinia cambogia not be used?
Its use is contraindicated:
- In pregnancy and lactation
- In the presence of Alzheimer's degenerative disease and other forms of dementia (garcinia can increase the cerebral synthesis of acetylcholine)
- For those suffering from diabetes mellitus (especially in drug therapy)
- For those suffering from liver disease
- In the presence of specific hypersensitivity or allergy.
Moreover, if Garcinia cambogia is used in association with other so-called "slimming" (especially thermogenic) supplements, it is necessary to consider the potential additive effect of the individual side effects, which mainly concern the gastrointestinal system and the nervous system.
Pharmacological Interactions
What drugs or foods can modify the effect of Garcinia cambogia?
Garcinia cambogia could alter blood sugar.
In particular, it seems capable of reducing (in subjectively variable quantities) the levels of plasma glucose.
For this reason, it is advisable to pay close attention to a possible synergistic effect between garcinia and hypoglycemic drugs commonly used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Some are:
- sulphonylureas
- glinides
- biguanides
- glitazones
- Alpha glucosidic inhibitors
- Exenatide
- Sitagliptin
- Synthetic insulin (injectable).
However, deciding to take Garcinia cambogia, medical consultation is recommended.
Notes : it is advisable to start the integration with a low dosage and, eventually, to increase it gradually.
There have been several clinical cases of patients who developed the "serotonin syndrome" after the combination of "serotonergic drugs" with Garcinia cambogia.
Therefore, caution should also be used when treating the following classes of drugs:
- SSRIs: such as fluoxetine, paroxetine, escitalopram and sertraline
- Tricyclic antidepressants (TCA): Doxepine, amitriptyline, etc.
- Dextromethorphan: a common cough suppressant found in many cough syrups
- pethidine
- pentazocine
- Tramadol.
Precautions for Use
What do you need to know before taking Garcinia cambogia?
In summary, before taking Garcinia cambogia you need to keep in mind that:
- The therapeutic effects are not guaranteed.
- Above all at high doses, it can trigger gastrointestinal side effects.
- It should be avoided in the event of pregnancy, lactation, dementia, liver disease, diabetes and allergy.
- It would be better to avoid it in the case of drug therapy as mentioned above.
