In Vitro Cyto-genotoxicity of Hydroxycitric Acid: A Weight-loss Dietary Supplement

Abstract

The growing issue of clinical obesity has led to increased consumption of weight-loss dietary supplements containing hydroxycitric acid (HCA) derived from the fruit rind of Garcinia cambogia, a plant widely distributed in Asia and Africa. It is often consumed in an unregulated manner, beyond the permissible dose, to achieve the target weight-loss. However, its safety/efficacy is controversial and reports on cytotoxicity and genotoxicity are limited and inconsistent. Hence, we aimed to study the putative effects of HCA on genotoxicity in human peripheral blood cells.