Posted by TexasChic on May 27, 2006, at 15:55:19
In reply to Garcinia Extract / Hydroxycitric acid (HCA), posted by TexasChic on May 27, 2006, at 15:35:49
I'm just wondering if anybody else has heard of this or had any experience with it. Its the main ingredient in Metabolife (I should have said that in the first post).
Here's the info I've found on it so far:
Hydroxycitric acid (HCA), is the active ingredient extracted from the rind of a little pumpkin-like fruit, Garcinia cambogia, from India and Southeast Asia.
HCA can inhibit an enzyme in cells, citrate lyase, which is needed for the conversion of carbohydrates into fat.
By blocking the conversion of citrate into acetyl-CoA, HCA can suppress fat synthesis.
It is important to note, however, that the citrate lyase enzyme, is only significantly active under conditions of carbohydrate overconsumption. In others words, unless you’re eating a lot of carbohydrate-type foods (bagels, pasta, potatoes), and overloading your carbohydrate storage capacity (muscle and liver glycogen stores) there is no significant conversion of carbohydrates into fatty acids anyway (and HCA may not work for you). If, however, you’re chowing down on low-fat high-carb foods at every meal, then your glycogen stores will be over-flowing and your citrate lyase enzymes are going to be working over time converting those excess carbs to fat.
OK, so now that you’ve blocked the fat production, you have to do something with those excess carbs. They can’t be stored as glycogen because those stores in liver and muscle are already full, so it is thought that the body disposes of them by increasing carbohydrate oxidation (burning them). As a result of these fully loaded glycogen stores, some researchers have suggested that a "side effect" of HCA supplementation may be a suppression of appetite – which would reduce food intake and promote weight loss.
poster:TexasChic
thread:649402
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060428/msgs/649414.html