Last updated: March 3, 2013
How does African mango work? How much African mango weight loss can you expect if you try the supplement for yourself? Prepare to find out!
How Does African Mango Work?
We’ve already covered how African mango extract can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, and how it can help keep blood sugar under control. (If you missed it, check out the What is African Mango? article.)
That’s all very well… but what’s the evidence for African mango weight loss?!
Your body’s cholesterol and triglyceride levels are closely connected with your weight level. Total cholesterol levels are higher in people who are obese (source). Weight loss is correlated with reduced LDL cholesterol and triglycerides (source).
How about the effect of African mango on blood sugar? It’s thought to be connected to insulin, the hormone your body uses to control blood sugar levels. When your body stops responding to insulin and blood sugar levels get too high, it’s known as “insulin resistance”.
Scientists have known for some time that insulin resistance is commonly linked with obesity. It’s also known that higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides can cause increased insulin resistance (source). We know that diabetics in the Swiss study had improved blood sugar levels after taking African mango, so it’s possible African mango can contribute to better insulin sensitivity.
Based on all this evidence, it’s not hard to realize why scientists thought African mango might be useful for helping people lose weight. Researchers in Cameroon conducted an experiment in 2008 that would test both the effect of African mango on cholesterol and triglycerides and the total weight of the body:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Irvingia gabonensis seeds in the management of obesity. [...] Irvingia gabonensis induced a decrease in weight of 2.91 ± 1.48% (p < 0.0001) after two weeks and 5.6 ± 2.7% (p < 0,0001) after one month [...] The plasma total cholesterol cencentration was reduced by 39.21%, triglycerides by 44.9% (p < 0,05) and LDL by 45.58%
So what does this tell us? Taking African mango decreased triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol, and it also helped people lose nearly 6% of their body weight in just four weeks!
The results were so promising that the scientists decided to do another experiment, this time with more people. The first study had 40 volunteers, but the study in 2009 had over 100. Scientists had the participants take 150mg of African mango extract twice a day before eating. After 10 weeks, people taking African mango extract lost an average of 28.2 pounds in weight and lost an average of 6.5 inches in waist size. They also had lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower total cholesterol, and lower blood sugar levels.
The same experiment showed that African mango radically increases Adiponectin levels. Adiponectin is a naturally occurring hormone in the human body that increases insulin sensitivity and weight loss. Low levels of Adiponectin are associated with metabolic syndrome (obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes).
Does African Mango Work?
Science and medicine are both difficult and complicated. Medical studies are set up very carefully so that randomness won’t affect the outcome and so that the only thing that can influence the results is the supplement being tested. However, no medical study is perfect: there’s always a small chance there was a mistake in how the experiment was done. That’s why it’s hard to answer the question “Does African mango work?” with complete certainty.
At the moment, there are only two medical studies done on humans to test African mango extract for weight loss. Both studies show that African mango extract does help people lose weight. But ideally, we’d have more studies from all over the world with thousands of volunteers.
Hopefully in the future there will be more studies done to rule out all doubt and show that African mango does work. But at the moment, all I can say is–all the evidence published to date shows that African mango weight loss is very real.
African Mango Results
If you’re taking the supplement to lose weight and stay slim, you want to see some African mango results. From the medical evidence we know that taking 300mg of African mango extract every day caused:
- Weight loss of 28lb in ten weeks in overweight individuals
- A significant reduction in total body fat
- A significant reduction in blood sugar levels
- Decreased total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol by over 25% on average
- It increased Adiponectin levels by over 150%
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John is the founder of Supplement SOS. He has written about health and nutrition for a number of high-profile publications. He's particularly interested in the future of sustainable food production and optimizing food products for human health.