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Garcinia cambogia is an evergreen tree that comes from Asia and grows up mostly in tropical climates, mainly in South India.
It is cultivated in the Southeast Asia, Polynesia and Southeast Africa too.
It also can be named like Garcinia gummy-gutta. Its most famous popular name is Malabar tamarind.
The top of this tree is rounded, and it has horizontal or drooping branches. It has a smooth and grey bark. It usually measures between 5 and 20 meters high.
Its leaves are glabrous with a leathery texture, elliptical shape and an acute termination. They are dark green.
In each leaf node emerges two opposite leaves that are inserted with a petiole in the stem.
The flowers are dioecious, male flowers are packed on a cluster inflorescence of about 4 individuals. The corolla consists of 4 petals, red or yellow. It has numerous free stamens, fasciculate or attached to a central mass.
In contrast, female flowers can be isolated or grouped. The stigma surface is usually enlarged and has no style. They have a super ovary.
The fruit is a globular yellowish berry that looks like a small pumpkin.
It has a thick and fleshy pericarp, that can be yellowish or orange and its taste is bittersweet. It possesses deep vertical grooves that define 6-8 lobes.
Inside the berry we usually can find between 6-8 seeds.
The fruits are normally recollected manually or they can fall of the trees already mature instead.
The parts of this plant that are used to obtain the therapeutic properties are the pulp and specially the peel of the fruit.
In its peel there is an element very appreciated because it is not abundant in the plants: we are talking about hydroxycitric acid (HCA).
This acid has the ability to partially inhibit lipogenesis and to remove fats already stored in fat cells. In addition, it decreases the appetite.
Therefore it is an ideal weight loss product, and it is also useful to control blood triglyceride levels.
It doesn't cause side effects because its action is carried out directly into the liver and not into the brain (like other appetite suppressors do).
It is also used as a vasopressor, and it has an astringent and antiseptic effect because of its abundance of tannins.
In the other hand, its dried peel is an ingredient of Curry, one of the most famous condiments of India. It also plays an important role in fish conservation.