The Fruit That Can Specifically Reduce Belly Fat

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Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Sometimes, a supplement rises to popularity and falls, just as quickly, out of favor—and in the case we’ll look at today, it seems neither were entirely correct

  • Today’s main feature examines the gummi-gutta fruit, its effects on reducing visceral belly fat, and how its safety profile actually looks.

• Omega-3 fatty acids have a lot of health benefits—including for joints and for the brain—but not all sources are created equal, and some are far better than cod liver oil!

  • You can get such a supplement from today’s sponsor NativePath, who are offering a form that’s not only much more convenient, but also with better bioavailability, and it’s sustainable too. Better for you and the planet!

• Today’s featured recipe’s beta-glucan content binds to cholesterol and carries it out of the body; there are lots of other nutritional benefits too!

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

A Word To The Wise

Watch and Learn

Can You Reverse Gray Hair? A Dermatologist Explains

Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text-overview, as well as the video!

Research Review Monday

Gambooge: Game-Changer Or Gamble?

The gambooge, also called the gummi-gutta, whence its botanical name Garcinia gummi-gutta (formerly Gardinia cambogia), is also known as the Malabar tamarind, and it even got an English name, the brindle berry.

It’s a fruit that looks like a small pale yellow pumpkin in shape, but it grows on trees and has a taste so sour, that it’s usually used only in cooking, and not eaten raw which makes this writer really want to try it raw now.

Its active phytochemical compound hydroxycitric acid (HCA) rose to popularity as a supplement in the US based on a paid recommendation from Dr. Oz, and then became a controversy as supplements associated with it, were in turn associated with hepatotoxicity (more on this in the “Is it safe?” section below).

What do people use it for?

Simply put: it’s a weight loss supplement.

Less simply put: least interestingly, it’s a mild appetite suppressant:

Safety and mechanism of appetite suppression by a novel hydroxycitric acid extract (HCA-SX) ← this talks more about the biochemistry, but isn’t a human study. Human studies have been small and with mixed results. It seems likely that (as in the rat studies discussed above) the mechanism of action is largely about increasing serotonin, which itself is a well-established appetite suppressant. Therefore, the results will depend somewhat on a person’s brain’s serotonergic system.

We’ll revisit that later, but first let’s look at…

Even less simply put: its other mechanism of action is much more interesting; it actually blocks the production of fat (especially: visceral fat) in the body, by inhibiting citrate lyase, which enzyme plays a significant role in fat production:

Effects of (−)-hydroxycitrate on net fat synthesis as de novo lipogenesis

More illustratively, here’s another study, which found:

Read in full: Effects of garcinia cambogia (Hydroxycitric Acid) on visceral fat accumulation: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

As to why this is particularly important, and far more important than mere fat loss in general, see our previous main feature:

Visceral Belly Fat (And How To Lose It)

Is it safe?

It has shown a good safety profile up to large doses (2.8g/day):

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of hydroxycitric acid or Garcinia cambogia extracts in humans

There have been some fears about hepatotoxicity, but they appear to be unfounded, and based on products that did not, in fact, contain HCA (and were merely sold by a company that used a similar name in their marketing):

No evidence demonstrating hepatotoxicity associated with hydroxycitric acid

However, as it has a serotoninergic effect, it could cause problems for anyone at risk of serotonin syndrome, which means caution is advisable if you are taking SSRIs (which reduce the rate at which the brain can scrub serotonin, with the usually laudable goal of having more serotonin in the brain—but it is possible to have too much of a good thing, and serotonin syndrome isn’t fun).

As ever, do check with your pharmacist and/or doctor, to be sure, since they can advise with regard to your specific situation and any medications you may be taking.

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!

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This Or That?

Vote on Which is Healthier

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Recipes Worth Sharing

Anti-Cholesterol Cardamom & Pistachio Porridge

This tasty breakfast’s beta-glucan content binds to cholesterol and carries it out of the body; there are lots of other nutritional benefits too, including an assortment of vitamins, minerals, protein, and healthy fats:

Click below for our full recipe, and learn its secrets:

One-Minute Book Review

The Good Skin Solution: Natural Healing for Eczema, Psoriasis, Rosacea and Acne – by Shann Jones

Not everyone knows that eczema is not just a skin condition; it’s an autoimmune condition. And thus to heal one’s skin, the gut is a good place to start.

This is not your average gut health book though, because it is focused on optimizing things for one’s skin… Although the author herself learned about this while helping her husband to battle an MRSA infection. In other words, a multi-fronted battle for sure.

The advices in this book are good for, as the subtitle promises, an assortment of other skin conditions too, including psoriasis, rosacea, and acne. She covers the usual bases, and recommends probiotics, of which she’s particularly keen to praise kefir, while advising against the use of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary—something we’ve talked about from time to time at 10almonds, too.

Not content to merely cover those things, she also talks allergies, and walking the fine line between avoiding triggers and developing hypersensitivity by treating to live in a perfectly clean bubble.

Ultimately, she offers “7 daily habits”, 3 of which involve goat’s milk kefir, that’s how keen on it she is. So if you’re vegan, probably this book isn’t as good value, however much it discusses the health woes that can be caused and/or exacerbated by drinking cow’s milk.

The style is very light and personable, which makes for easy reading, more like one friend talking to another, than a scientific textbook.

Bottom line: if you’d like healthier skin, are interested in dietary tweaks and homemade soaps, and have no aversion to goat’s milk and/or kefir, then this book is full of fascinating pointers.

Click here to check out The Good Skin Solution, and who knows, maybe you’ll find it’s the G.O.A.T!

Penny For Your Thoughts?

Wishing you the very most well-informed start to the week,

The 10almonds Team