Does anyone know if Garcinia Camogia the new diet sensation would be harmful . It is a fruit with apparently no side affects

[susiep]

[shall1019]

I've wondered myself but don't know anyone who has tried it.

[Hidden]

warning not to use it longer than 12 weeks, it's long term effects unknown, may cause gut problems, headache, nausea. It is used in dieting but then all these new wonder drugs that appear always seem to have some propensity to diet. No doubt next month or next week another magical pill will come on the market as a wonder diet or drug. they are always rather quite expensive as well!

I reckon if you want to lose weight, eat less, and keep to a good balanced diet it is the safest way in life.

[Lindylanka]

This is not a 'wonder drug' it is a normal part of cooking in South India and Sri Lanka, and probably elsewhere in equatorial SE Asia, where is is known as 'goraka'. Hindu and Buddhist households use this in variants of ayurvedic coooking, and it adds sourness to food. It is used sparingly. I would not consider that it should be used in any other way. I had well over a decade of experience with this condiment, and its use.

That it is being marketed out of context in the west is rather worrying, as it would not be used this way traditionally.

Having said that, I am someone who food sticks to, no matter what it is and in my years in SE Asia I steadily lost weight, till I achieved a normal weight, which I retained until I returned to the UK, many years later. This meant in practical terms I halved my weight over something around 5-7 years. This returned quite quickly in the west.

I ascribe this not to one component of the food, but to the way meals were balanced, and how ingredients were adequate but frugal. We rarely really balance our food in Europe. Or we do so to a kind of scientific formula rather than a balancing on a day by day basis. Ayurvedic cooking has foods for various conditions of health, is seasonal, and even takes the weather into account!

Coconut was a main staple along with many spices, and I rarely ate meat, though fish and shellfish were additions to the mainly vegetarian food.

Turmeric, coconut oil and goraka, all now discussed by pwp, were just ordinary ingredients used daily in almost every kitchen. Supplemented by some amazing fruit most of which we rarely see. Papaya, also sometimes discussed, was plentiful, and a regular part of the diet, and the fruit were much larger than any I have seen in the UK.

I would guess with the exception of papaya, any of the foodstuffs I mentioned above would not be good in large quantities, and would cause the kind of toxic 'overindulged' feelings of nausea & headache which are signs that you have had too much of something.

If you want to use these ingredients learn how to cook with them, rather than take them as supplements. SE Asian vegetarian food is delicious.