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:

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.