Take a second and third look at the humble kokum, cocum, sola, brindall berry or Garcinia cambogia, says Our Special Correspondent.

CAN YOU lose weight by eating the humble Goan or Konkan kokum? Yes, says an article written by a freelance writer Stephanie Chelf in an American health-conscious foodie magazine, Natural Health. From the sound of it the inclusion of kokum in your daily eating can help metabolise fat in your diet better. Perhaps that’s why it’s included in most traditional Goan meals, especially in the Goan Hindu tradition…the rich maroon dark peels of kokum are either dropped into a gravy or dal for a sour or tangy flavour, or soaked in plain water and mixed in with coconut milk to make solkoddi flavoured with a green chilli and garlic or thymol seeds. Various versions of solkoddi or kokum tivim accompany every meal. Makes sense.

Kokum has what researchers call hydroxycitric acid or HCA and it can help you lose weight without damaging side effects. Kokum is becoming famous as the brindell berry or botanically Garcinia cambogia and it is rich in HCA. The West may have just woken up to the properties of the kokum but kokum has been used for centuries in Indian tradition to facilitate digestion and ease gastrointestinal ailments. Like tamarind, kokum is good for you.

How does it work? From the sound of it HCA in kokum increases the body’s production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter (brain chemical) which is said to regulate appetite. With a lower appetite we consume fewer calories. Researchers think HCA is what inhibits the enzymes that convert carbohydrates into stored fat…and unlike other weight-loss supplements HCA does not raise your heart rate or blood pressure. To quote from the article, “Humans studies show promising evidence that HCA can suppress your appetite by increasing serotonin production. When combined with exercise and a healthy diet, HCA appears to speed weight loss.”

An unpublished double-bind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in India in 2002. Eighty-two moderately obese volunteers took either a placebo or 2,800 mg of HCA divided into three daily doses before meals for eight weeks. All subjects were offered 2,000 calories a day and walked for 30 minutes a day, five days a week. The HCA group lost an average of 10 pounds, while the placebo group lost an average of three and half pounds. Those who took HCA ate 12 percent less food than the placebo group. In a study published in the International Journal of Obesity – on the subject of HCA’s effect on overweight people who did not diet or exercise, 24 participants received 300 mg of HCA or a placebo an hour before lunch and dinner and two hours after dinner (to prevent nighttime snacking) for two weeks. After a two-week break, subjects received the same amount of HCA or a placebo for two more weeks. Those who took HCA ate 25 percent fewer calories during a 24-hour period than those who took the placebo. There was no significant loss for either group but this was because to the short duration of the study.

But there’s enough evidence for Harry Preuss, M.D., a certified nutrition specialist and professor of physiology, medicine,and pathology at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. , to recommend 900 mg of HCA three times a daily, half to an hour before meals to anyone wishing to lose weight! American natural food stores now stock kokum or HCA capsules or Americans can order them from websites like www.vitaminshoppe.com or www.gnc.com It is of course sometimes sold just as Garcinia or Carginia Cambogia. So there you are. The bottomline message is not to abandon the humble kokum but to make a firm favourite with every meal. Of course, the average housewife in Goa and the entire Konkan already knows about the goodness of kokum and the kokum tree grows prolifically throughout the South Maharashtra, Goan and Malabar lands….this virtually means that kokum is literally freely available.

While the market for kokum and HCA grows in the countries of the enlightened West…here’s hoping that we don’t abandon the drinking and eating of kokum or solum. Make a habit of dropping a tablespoon of kokum peels into a litre jar of water everyday, soak for a few hours, stir and drink it either sweetened with honey or spiked with a tangy jaljeera masala! Even plain kokum water is divine once you get the proportion right. Add a few peels to a ladies finger sabzi, chop a few peels and include them in chaat snacks…and, cheers to losing weight naturally.

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