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African Mango Extract: Diet Miracle or Fraud?
There’s a huge amount of buzz right now about African Mango Extract following Dr. Oz’s promotion of it last year on Oprah. The supplement, from the rare African mango found in western Africa, supposedly allows users to lose huge amounts of weight with minimal changes to diet and exercise routine. One claim you’ll hear a lot is that participants in a trial lost on average 28 lbs in two and a half months. Is this possible? Can African mango extract live up to the hype?
Maybe not.
The first thing to remember is that this only represents one study from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon and published in Lipids in Health and Disease. I think that it’s safe to say that if one study yields shocking results, it’s best to wait for more studies before placing too much stock in it. Moreover, some commentators have noticed some irregularities in the study’s abstract, which you can read here. Specifically, concerns have been raised about the increasing pace of weight loss the participants experienced- four pounds in the first months and ten pounds in the last two weeks- as well as some problems with the numbers for the placebo group, which don’t always seem to add up.
The best reason to be skeptical though is that the claims are just too fantastic. Real sustained weight loss involves difficult changes in diet and exercise, and while I don’t doubt supplements can help, there is no miracle cure. It probably doesn’t hurt to take African mango extract, but I would save my money and stock up on veggies instead.
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6 Comments
Sam S commented on Feb 01 11 at 8:39 pmExcellent article, African Mango is just another marketing hype. Some companies are paying big bucks to get on Dr Oz on oprah. It’s just as Acai Berry, to make some money of people trying to lose weight.
Barbara Di Lalla commented on Mar 23 11 at 11:09 pmAlthough the hype about no diet or exercise, just the mango pills, makes me very skeptical. I would give it a try if it isn’t too expensive. I already maintain a healthy life style in diet and exercise. I would like to lose a little bellly fat. What middlle aged wooman (or man) wouldn’t?
geoff commented on Apr 06 11 at 8:14 pmAfrican Mango barbados mango there all the same.companies just want to make big money on this one. but people in africa will still live poor shit. its a big joke.if you want to lose some belly fat eat right and diet or exercise. that will help.
geoff commented on Apr 06 11 at 8:15 pmwhats next philippines bananas
kemi commented on Jun 16 11 at 9:39 amHey! I live in Nigeria. Saw the African mango incredible tale on the internet. I intensified my search and found out it was one of our local dishes here in Nigeria. Though I couldn’t measure out the quantity correctly as stated out in the moyo add, I decided to just take a small portion with water, like 10 – 5 mins before meals, since am taking it with raw, I mean since it is not in any capusle it shouldnt take as long. Believe it or not I ve lost a considerable amount of weight, My skirts now sit on my waist. Am still in shock, really.
kemi commented on Jun 16 11 at 9:41 amAm sorry that was supposed to be hips not waist!
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