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Dietetic and Pharmaceutical Raw Materials
GARCINIA CAMBOGIA
Various species of Garcinia
occur in South Asia and in tropical Africa.
Fruits, seeds, leaves, and wood of individual species or extracts thereof are
used for medicinal purposes or technical uses (HOPPE, 1975). The fruits of the
species Garcinia cambogia which is native to South India
are considered to be edible, they are, however, too sour to be eaten raw.
Instead dried fruit rinds are used in curry mixtures and together with salt for
the curing of fish. Decoctions of the rinds are given as medication against
rheumatism and bowel complaints in the local folk medicine. The fruits contain
as principal fruit acid (-)hydroxycitric acid (LEWIS, 1965). (-)Hydroxycitric
acid is an effective inhibitor of the fatty acid synthesis (LOWENSTEIN, 1971).
The inhibiting mechanism consists in an interruption of the supply of acetyl
Coenzyme A, the building block used for the synthesis of fatty acids. Acetyl
Coenzyme A is formed in the mitochondria but cannot pass the mitochondrial
membrane unless it has reacted with oxaloacetate to form citrate. Having
migrated to the cytosol the citrate is cleaved by the enzyme citrate lyase into
acetyl Coenzyme A and oxaloacetate again. (The oxaloacetate returns to the
mitochondria in form of certain intermediates). If hydroxycitrate is present
the back cleavage is inhibited. Hydroxycitrate - because of its similarity to
citrate - "docks" to the citrate lyase but cannot be cleaved like
citrate and remaining at the active side of the enzyme blocks its activity. No
more citrate is cleaved and therefore no more acetyl Coenzyme A is formed. The
concentration of the citrate increases and its migration from the mitochondria
ceases. It is assumed that the backlog of metabolites inhances the glycogen
synthesis which in turn leads to diminished food intake (SULLIVAN 1976).
Hydroxycitrate acts thus at the metabolic level and not at the central nervous
system as classical appetite depressants do. It was found that
(-)hydroxycitrate does indeed lower the feed intake of lean (SULLIVAN, 1964)
and obese (GREENWOOD,
1981) rats, of mice (SULLIVAN, 1977) and chickens (CHEE, 1977). At the same
time a significant inhibition of the cholesterol synthesis was observed when
rats consumed hydroxycitrate containing feed (SULLIVAN, 1972). Hydroxycitrate
as feed additive reduced the feed intake of rats in the first seven weeks of
the experiment but not in the following seven weeks (SULLIVAN, 1977). Despite
of this normalization of the feed intake there was no overeating or
compensation for the earlier reduction in food intake. (-)Hydroxycitric acid is
a gamma-hydroxy-carbonic acid. It has therefore a tendency to form an internal
ester, a so-called lacton under release of a molecule water. In acidic
environment a reversible equilibrium is formed in which depending on the amount
of water available about 30 to 50% free acid are present. By removal of the
free acid (by metabolisation or neutralisation with alcali) the equilibrium is
shifted completely to the side of the free acid.
References
CHEE, H., ROMSOS, D.R., LEVEILLE,
G.A., 1977: J. Nutr., 107,112 GREENWOOD,
M.R.C., et al., 1981: Effect of (-)hydroxycitrate on development of obesity in
the Zucker obese rat. Am. J. Physiol. 1981; 240: E72-E78
HOPPE, HEINZ A., 1975:
Drogenkunde, Band 1, de Gruyter, S. 521 LEWIS, Y.S., NEELAKANTAN S., 1965:
(-)Hydroxycitric acid - the principal acid in the fruits of Garcinia cambogia.
Phytochemsitry 4:610-525 LOWENSTEIN, J.M., 1971: Effect of (-)Hydroxycitrate on
Fatty Acid Synthesis by Rat Liver in Vivo. J. Biol. Chem., 246, 629
SULLIVAN, A.C., HAMILTON J.G., MILLER;
O.N., WHEATLEY W.R., 1972: Inhibition of Lipogenesis in Rat Liver by
(-)Hydroxycitrate. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 150, 183-190.
SULLIVAN, A.C., TRISCARI,
J., HAMILTON
J.G., MILLER; O.N., 1974: Lipids, 9, 129
SULLIVAN, A.C., TRISCARI,
J., 1976: "Possible Interrelationship Between Metabolite Flux and
Appetite" in D. Novin, W. Wywicka, G. Bray Eds., Hunger: Basic Mechanisms
and Clinical Implications, Raven, New
York, p. 115
SULLIVAN, A.C., TRISCARI,
J., 1977: Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 30, 767
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