Is It Truly A Blessing

History of Garcinia Cambogia

Garcinia cambogia originated in Indonesia and is also known by different names such as brindleberry, brindall berry, Malabar tamarind and kodumpuli in Malayalam. Yellow in colour the pumpkin shaped fruit is also widely referred to as Assam fruit. It is mostly found in forests of southeast Asia, west and central Africa.

Belonging to plant family Guttiferae, Garcinia cambogia like its name, is also available in different sizes varying from pumpkin, orange to grapes. When it is dried for storage it becomes brown or sometimes black in colour. Garcinia cambogia is also known as "Malabar Tamarind" in South India, though these two are vastly different species. Both these are used for the same purpose which is to add the taste of sourness to a dish.

Good Ingredient for Cooking

Garcinia cambogia is used in India mainly in cooking curries because of its sour taste. Besides it is added to soup because it gives a feeling of fullness. In fact the fruit rind and extract are used to a great extent in many traditional recipes. Ayurveda recommends use of sour ingredients because it has been found that it helps to a great extent in digesting food.

In Ceylon, however, Garcinia Cambogia is mainly used in the preparation of fish curing. Fish curing is a process of preserving fish with the help of the fruit, which is typically used in South India, thereby exploiting its anti-bacterial quality.

In other countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar this is used in different cuisines. In kaeng som a southern Thai dish, which is a sour curry, Garcinia cambogia is used mainly because of its sourness.

It is popularly believed as was mentioned earlier in the text, that Garcinia cambogia has the effect of making the meal more filling.

Medicinal Property

Other than its popularity as a food ingredient, Garcinia cambogia has certain medicinal properties. It is sometimes used as purgatives. Moreover it is used in certain herbal products which are used for weight loss, lessening appetite and energy.

Recently new research on Garcinia cambogia has shown that it definitely has a fat reducing property. This unique quality of the product has earned it a place in Dr Oz's show. Dr Oz was highly impressed by the result of the research.

Research has shown that Garcinia cambogia is definitely effective in reducing weight. There are two main ways by which this extract achieves this effect:

· Serotonin is a chemical present in the body that affects our appetite. Garcinia cambogia, it has been found out, increases the serotonin level. As a result, people feel less appetite and eat less which automatically translates into weight reduction. It is but natural that as we eat less, we put in fewer calories in our body.

· The miraculous power of Garcinia cambogia to burn fat is a true blessing. This extract has the capacity to stop the function of citrate lyase an enzyme in our body. The function of this enzyme is to help create fat from carbohydrates. Moreover, it boosts metabolism which in turn results in burning of fat.

Hence we can come to the conclusion that Garcinia cambogia is a blessing of nature for mankind.