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Hca, Snake Oil Or Not?
Category: Health and FitnessMany competing brands.
There are many diet pills brands that come under the form of capsules that contain a herbal supplement, in effect, extracts from a plant named Garcinina Cambogia, which grows in India and other Asian countries.
The active ingredient is a chemical named hydroxycitric acid (HCA) of which some sources claim that it acts as an appetite suppressant and a fat production inhibitor. (It reduces appetite and slows down the production of fat).
Counter Indications.
While children, pregnant women, diabetics and people suffering from Alzheimers should avoid taking HCA for various reasons, healthy adults with an overweight problem could consider the use of this supplement, as it is rumored to stimulate the production of serum serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood, sleep and appetite control.
This is very helpful when eating, as serotonin will help create a feeling of satiety, or “being filled”, more quickly, which helps reduce the amount of food that is ingested. When trying to lose weight, eating less is without any doubt one of the most difficult goals to achieve.
Help breaking bad habit.
This is because one builds the habit of eating certain amounts of food during a meal. The body gradually becomes accustomed to receiving a certain quantity of food, and when this amount of food intake diminishes too rapidly, it reacts as if lean times have arrived by stockpiling more.
Diet pill defenders will claim that any competing HCA containing products also promotes the increase of glycogen, which is one of the sources of energy our body uses to convert a chemical into power needed for various functions. While fat could be considered a “slow” energy source for the body, glycogen could be seen as a “fast” energy source.
When combined, the effect of more serotonin and more glycogen could easily bring one to deduce that HCA can help people who want to go on a diet in order to lose weight. Indeed, curbing the appetite means one has less difficulty eating smaller portions, which is obtained by stimulating the production of serotonin and while more glycogen means there is less fat accumulation, it also produces a feeling of having more energy.
What research tells us today.
There where more research shows that HSA experiments were proven to be effective with animals, a doubt still persists as to its effectiveness for humans. This is because clinical trials have not always given the same results. In one group, weight loss would be impressive as compared to a control group taking a placebo, while in other trials the results could not be seen as conclusive.
In all, there are as many indications in favour of HCA as there are against its use. As with any other diet helping product, HCA containing pills will probably be of great help for some and absolutely not for others. The true upside is that it has been proven that there are no side effects for healthy individuals.
Being extracted from plants, HCA is natural and it does no harm to healthy overweight people. This allows candidates who want to try out HCA to do so with little or no risk, this being written, the author will always recommend anyone who might be interested in HCA not to try it without the supervision of a recognized and trained physician.
Joe is webmaster for YouEatItYouWearIt since january 2008 when he decided that he would put up an internet site to share his dieting experience with anyone struggling with an overweight problem. He managed to lose more than 35 kilos (100 lbs) some 18 years ago and keep it that way. How he managed this is freely shared on http://www.youeatityouwearit.com for everyone to see and he publishes his articles on the subject here on EzineArticles.
Tags: appetite suppressant, fat production inhibitor, hydroxycitric acid, obese, HCA