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One of the Most
Effective and Natural Weight Loss Products To Come
Along In Years Started Out As A Food To Help People
Survive Famines In India.
Caralluma
Fimbriata, an ancient Indian cactus, is getting a fast
reputation for possibly becoming the most effective tool ever
discovered for battling obesity.
Caralluma has been used in India for
centuries for its ability to suppress hunger while providing
energy. This has been critically important for the Indian people
to survive extended famines. The West is just now discovering
its effectiveness for weight loss. Our "problem" is an
overabundance of food. It is so cheap and accessible, 64.5% of
the adult population in America is overweight.
Many native
populations of India consume several locally growing medicinal
plants as part of their diets. Edible succulents grow wild all
over India and are part of the daily diets of several native
populations. The Caralluma genus is one such genus of edible
succulents, which includes several species, many of which grow
across India.
Caralluma Fimbriata is the most
prevalent of these species and it grows widely in large parts of
interior India. It also grows wild in urban locations as well,
and is planted as roadside shrubbery and as a boundary marker in
gardens across the country.
History Of Usage - Caralluma Fimbriata
is essentially a vegetable of daily use in tribal India. It is
eaten in numerous forms. It is cooked as a regular vegetable
with spices and salt. It is used in preserves like chutneys and
pickles and is also eaten raw. Indians chew chunks of
Caralluma to suppress hunger when on a
day long hunt. This cactus is used among the working classes in
southern India to suppress appetite and enhance endurance.
In arid regions of
Andhra Pradesh and in the Kolli Hills of Tamil Nadu, caralluma
is a succulent used daily. It is also widely utilized as a
thirst quencher. Indian tribesmen would frequently pack only a
bag of caralluma to sustain themselves
over long journeys.
Obesity Statistics:
- Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are
overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million
morbidly obese.
- The number of adults who are overweight or obese has
continued to rise over time. Currently, 64.5% of United
States adults age 20 years and up are overweight, and 30.5%
are obese. Morbid obesity prevalence is now 4.7%, up
from 2.9% reported in the 1988-1994 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That is an
alarming 61% increase.
Caralluma
Research - The effect of Caralluma Fimbriata extract on
appetite, food intake and anthropometry in adult Indian men and
women.
Wealth of
India, the Indian Health Ministry's comprehensive compilation on
medicinal plants, lists Caralluma Fimbriata
as a vegetable and as a famine food.
Caralluma fimbriata is an edible cactus, used by tribal Indians
to suppress hunger and enhance endurance. The effect of
Caralluma extract was assessed in overweight individuals by a
placebo controlled randomized trial. 50 adult men and women
(25-60 years) with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25kg/m
were randomly assigned into a placebo or experimental group; the
latter received 1g of Caralluma extract per day for sixty days.
All participants
were given standard advice regarding a weight loss diet and
physical activity. At the completion of thirty and sixty days of
intervention, blood glucose and lipids, anthropometric
measurements, dietary intake and assessment of appetite was
measured. Waist size and hunger levels over the observation
period showed a significant decline in the experimental group
when compared to the placebo group.
While there was a
trend towards a greater decrease in body weight, body mass
index, hip circumference, body fat and energy intake between
assessment time points in the experimental group, these were not
significantly different between experimental and placebo groups.
Caralluma fimbriata extract appears to suppress appetite, and
reduce waist circumference in comparison to a placebo over a two
month timeframe.
Appetite. 2007 May;48(3):338-44. Epub 2006 Nov 13. Division of
Nutrition, Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research,
St John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore 560034,
India.
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