Does Garcinia Cambogia work?
The category of supplements for weight loss is popular, and Garcinia Cambogia is another one that promises to help in this task.
It is a fruit that you find for sale in isolation, but it is also present in several thermogenic in combination with other ingredients.
Its active ingredient is HCA, and in theory, it inhibits an enzyme that leads to weight loss.
Now, does it work?
This is another story, and in fact, a story that reminds us of the famous CLAN.
Animal studies are promising.
In humans? Not really.
We analyzed three studies, and more, to evaluate the results of this supplement in weight loss.
References for each of them can be found at the end of the article.
Does Garcinia Cambogia work? That's what we're going to see now.
Not really
86 people were selected for a 10-week study.
Participants were between 20 and 50 years old and were separated into three different groups, one of whom used 2g of Garcinia Cambogia daily.
The other two groups, on the other hand, used EGML and the other a placebo.
An interesting detail of this study is that none of the groups followed any specific diet or training.
That is, each person continued their previous routine, and the only change was the start of supplementation.
Completion of the study at the end of the 10 weeks was simple.
Garcinia Cambogia has not promoted weight loss or changes in body fat.
Maybe (very) little
In this study they decided to investigate the effects of this supplement on appetite, and to find out if it had any influence or not.
Fortunately, they also assessed the effects on weight loss.
89 overweight women participated and were divided into two groups.
42 ingested 2.4 g of Garcinia Cambogia daily, which corresponded to 1.2 g per day of HCA, while 47 were on a placebo.
The study lasted 12 weeks and both groups followed a 1200 kcal low calorie diet.
Both groups lost weight as expected, but the group that used the supplementation got better results.
However, they were not exactly very significant.
The average difference was approximately 1.3 kg between groups at the end of 12 weeks.
That is, the group that used Garcinia Cambogia lost an average 1.3 kg more weight than the group that did not use it.
It is obviously a positive result, but not significant for a 12-week period.
As for appetite, no changes were detected between groups.
Or maybe not
A supplement that helps to fight obesity is always something interesting, and therefore, a study was done to assess the potential of Garcinia Cambogia in this area.
It counted on the results of 84 healthy but overweight people and created two groups.
One group received 3g of Garcinia Cambogia per day, and the other only a placebo. Both followed a similar diet of 1200 kcal daily.
At the end of the 12-week study, the conclusion reached by the authors was not very encouraging.
Garcinia Cambogia did not produce superior results to placebo in terms of weight loss or fat loss.
In fact, although the difference is not statistically significant, the group that did not use Garcinia Cambogia tended to lose more weight than the group that used it as you can see In this image.
Meta-analyzes
A meta-analysis serves to bring together the results of several studies, and then to reach a conclusion using these data.
It is a useful method and luckily Garcinia Cambogia has several.
At the end of 2010, a meta-analysis was published that evaluated the effectiveness of this supplement in weight loss.
The conclusion was as follows:
?Evidence from clinical research studies suggests that Garcinia/HCA extracts generate short-term fat loss.
However, the magnitude of this effect is small, it ceases to be statistically significant when only rigorous clinical investigation studies are considered, and its clinical relevance seems questionable.?
In other words, the effect when it exists is small and short-lived, and if only rigorous studies are considered, the effect is no longer even statistically significant and clinically relevant.
In 2013, another meta-analysis was published that reached similar conclusions, stating that although the results in animals have been promising and real, in humans they disappoint.
Conclusion
Garcinia cambogia extract does not seem to be a great help in weight loss, at least that's what human studies show.
Although the results have been very promising in animals, to date, great utility in using this supplement for weight loss in humans has not yet been demonstrated.
If you think that the possibility of losing an extra 1kg at the end of three months justifies the use of this supplement, well, then it might be worth it.
But in fact, does it justify investing in something that, even when it works, the effects are so modest?
Finally, here are some articles that can be useful for you on various supplements to lose weight.
References
Not really
Kim JE, Jeon SM, Park KH, Lee WS, Jeong TS, McGregor RA, Choi MS. Does Glycinemax leaves or Garcinia Cambogia promote weight-loss or lower plasma cholesterolin overweight individuals: a randomized control trial. Nutr J. 2011 Sep 21; 10: 94.
Maybe (very) little
Mattes RD, Bormann L. Effects of (-) - hydroxycitric acid on appetitivevariables. Physiol Behav. 2000 Oct 1-15; 71 (1-2): 87-94.
Or maybe not
Heymsfield SB, Allison DB, Vasselli JR, Pietrobelli A, Greenfield D, Nunez C. Garcinia cambogia (hydroxycitric acid) as a potential antiobesity agent: arandomized controlled trial. JAMA. 1998 Nov 11; 280 (18): 1596-600.
2010 meta-analysis
Onakpoya, Igho et al. ?The Use of Garcinia Extract (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Weight Loss Supplement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.? Journal of Obesity 2011 (2011): 509038.
2013 Meta-Analysis
Chuah, Li Oon et al. ?Updates on Antiobesity Effect of Garcinia Origin (?)-HCA.? Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine?: eCAM 2013 (2013): 751658.
