Is Garcinia Cambogia safe to use?

Hello Anonymous,

There is quite a buzz on the internet about garcinia cambogia as a weight loss wonder pill. I have not used it personally, nor would I. I can provide you with information that may help you make your own decision.

Garcinia cambogia is a small, pumpkin-shaped fruit, sometimes called tamarind. Adding this ingredient to meals is considered to be effective in making meals more “filling.” In some villages in Malaysia, garcinia is used to make a soup that is eaten before meals for weight loss because of garcinia’s appetite-blocking abilities.

Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) is extracted from the rind of this fruit. Proponents of product claim HCA decreases appetite and prevents your body from storing fat. HCA appears to inhibit an enzyme called citrate lyase and interferes with fatty acid metabolism.

“HCA does do that—but in a petri dish," says Steven Heymsfield, M.D., the former head of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. "Converting that to actual weight loss in humans would take 1,000 steps beyond that," he says.

Back in 1998, Heymsfield published the first randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of garcinia cambogia, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He found no weight-loss benefits."
ConsumerReports.org March24, 2014

You decide.
Maryann