Garcinia Cambogia is a tropical fruit, which looks surprisingly similar to pumpkin. It’s well known for being a highly effective weight-loss supplement. It’s popularity is soaring from quite a long while now, and the Internet really seem to have liked it, as it’s becoming more and more popular on it with each passing day.
However, it’s also something that’s surrounded by a ton of controversies. While some flat out disagree about its weight-loss effects, others call it “dangerous”. Some even go on to terming it as being a bit of both. Now though all these groups of people have some facts to back their views and opinions, there isn’t exactly a simple answer to the question ‘is Garcinia Cambogia safe or not?’ However, there are quite a few important things, facts, and results of various studies and research work done on it that may help one understand a lot about whether Garcinia Cambogia is safe for THEM or not.
How it works
Well, before delving deeper into the safety issues related to the use of Garcinia Cambogia, it’s imperative to first understand how it exactly works. Without going into too many specific details, let’s just understand that it contains something known as HCA, or hydroxycitric acid. All the hype around Garcinia Cambogia is due to containing the HCA. It’s believed to block an enzyme responsible for turning things into fat, such as sugars, starches, and so on. And less fats mean less weight, doesn’t it? So that’s one of the points.
The other seemingly impressive thing about Garcinia Cambogia is that it results in an increase in the serotonin levels, helping one feel satisfied even they’ve eaten less than they usually do. This helps in following strict diets and eating less overall, which too, seems to be something helping in losing weight.
So that’s basically all the important stuff about it, obviously just a brief of what it does. Now that you have got an idea about how Garcinia Cambogia exactly works, it will probably be much easier to understand whether it’s safe or not. So let’s quickly move on to discovering some of the important facts related to how safe, or not-so-safe, it is.
A look at some of the studies for the question: is Garcinia Cambogia safe ?
Firstly, let’s talk about a study of Garcinia Cambogia done in mice. The study results showed that the mice which were given Garcinia Cambogia showed a considerably lower level of insulin than those that weren’t. This is particularly due to the ability of Garcinia Cambogia to help utilize the glucose easily, leaving less sugar behind. And this is what leads to lower insulin levels.
After this study revealed the results, which could mean an effective treatment for Type 2 Diabetes, people suffering from the disease started getting curious about it too. Now though it isn’t exactly known how safe it is for such people, one thing is for sure that people who are already on some other meditations shouldn’t even think of going for Garcinia Cambogia, as their sugar levels can decrease drastically, which may result in some serious health issues.
Similarly, another study found that Garcinia Cambogia could prove helpful in improving cholesterol levels, by increasing the good cholesterol levels while decreasing the bad one. This is another thing that seems to be the need of the decade. These advantages pretty much explain why Garcinia Cambogia managed to gain so much popularity throughout the world.
However, again, if one is already following some other treatment for dealing with their cholesterol problems, then taking Garcinia Cambogia along with it isn’t recommended at all.
The 2009 ban
Despite all the effectiveness Garcinia Cambogia boasts of coming with, it was banned by the Food and Drugs Administration, in 2009. The move was triggered by a surprisingly high number of cases of serious liver problems, which seemed to be a result of using Garcinia Cambogia. So, back then, the FDA had warned everyone about its harmful use and asked to stop using it.
However, the product also contained many other ingredients, and it’s still unknown that which of its ingredients caused this. Furthermore, there were many other researches carried out as well, for testing whether Garcinia Cambogia is safe for your liver or not. But unfortunately, some suggested it is safe for the liver, while some said otherwise.
Possible side effects while taking with other medicines
However, there seem to be some side effects of using Garcinia Cambogia along with other medicines for sure. It may result in various health issues if used alongside:
- Asthma and other allergy medicines
- Medicines for dealing with diabetes, as well as helping with the insulin levels
- Medicines that help to deal with the pain one is going through due to any health problems
- People undergoing treatments related to psychiatric conditions
- Medicines for improving the iron levels
- Blood thinning medicines
- Medicines that help lower cholesterol levels
Also, it’s highly recommended to avoid Garcinia Cambogia during pregnancy and while suffering from liver or kidney problems.
The final result – is Garcinia Cambogia safe ?
So, is Garcinia Cambogia safe? Well, as you can see, there seem to be too many mixed results to find out whether Garcinia Cambogia is really safe or not. However, regardless of whether it’s completely safe or not, it seems to be tremendously important to consult your doctor before starting it. After all, there seem to be a lot of things that point towards Garcinia Cambogia being quite unsafe. But as the results are not final or completely reliable, and there are many other possibilities involved, it may be worth checking and testing whether it turns out to be safe for you or not. Doing so with your doctor’s support seems to be a wise option, as you will be much more protected from the possible ill effects of using it than you’d if you use it without consulting your doctor.
Also, it’s probably worth nothing that one can definitely ensure that it turns out to be safer for them by taking the right product in the right dose, and also taking it in a proper way, as a well known researcher points out.