Chemistry Forum

Question: Is Calcium Hydroxycitrate effectively/functionally the same as Hydroxycitric Acid found in the supplement (Garcinia Cambogia). In the sense that either chemical combined with Alpha Lipoic Acid would have the same therapeutic effect as described in the pubmed article below.

It was explained to me that - "Hydroxycitrate and Hydroxycitric Acid contain hydroxycitrate which is negatively charged; the difference is in the positive charged species that balances the charge to make the overall complex neutral. Calcium hydroxycitrate balances the charge with calcium ions, and hydroxycitric acid balances the charge with protons (hydrogen ions)."

This is Regarding a PUB MED Research article titled: "A combination of alpha lipoic acid and calcium hydroxycitrate is efficient against mouse cancer models: preliminary results"

In the actual full article it reads:
"All chemicals were purchased from Sigma. Lipoic acid is soluble in ethanol (0.5% final concentration) and calcium hydroxycitrate (Garcinia cambogia extract) in water. Lipoic acid and hydroxycitrate were either diluted in culture medium for in vitro experiments or in saline solution (9 g/l) for in vivo administration."

While you currently can't purchase "Calcium Hydroxycitrate" unless you are a researcher. You can purchase - Garcinia Cambogia with labels that read - Hydroxycitric Acid.

Thanks for any clarity on this!

We can not give answers for pharmaceutical purpose.

(Hydroxy)-citric acid can be neutralized with Calcium carbonate to the citrate.

Unrelated question to my first but follow up to you referenced fact about citric acid: If you combined Hydroxycitric Acid & Calcium Carbonate would you get Calcium Hydroxycitrate? Would it work to just combine the two powdered materials in water to create the later substance?

Yes of course it will work. But you have to know which one you will make. Citric acid has 3 Protons, these can be exchanged step by step by a metal, here Calcium, which is bivalent. So there will be CaHCit., Ca(H₂Cit)₂ and Ca₃(Cit)₂.

This post is a testament to the beauty of vulnerability.

Calcium hydroxycitrate and hydroxycitric acid (HCA) are closely related but not identical. The key difference is the salt form (e.g., calcium, potassium, magnesium) versus the acid form (protonated). However, in the body — especially in aqueous (blood/plasma) environments — they dissociate, and the hydroxycitrate anion is what really matters therapeutically. Sprunki

bevis0405 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 10:05 pm Calcium hydroxycitrate and hydroxycitric acid (HCA) are closely related but not identical. The key difference is the salt form (e.g., calcium, potassium, magnesium) versus the acid form (protonated). However, in the body — especially in aqueous (blood/plasma) environments — they dissociate, and the hydroxycitrate anion is what really matters therapeutically.
miside

Thanks for the clarification! So while calcium hydroxycitrate (the salt) and free HCA differ in form, their bioactive component—the hydroxycitrate anion—is what ultimately exerts the therapeutic effects in physiological conditions. Appreciate the breakdown!

Calcium hydroxycitrate and hydroxycitric acid (HCA) are closely related but not the same. The main distinction lies in their forms — salts (like calcium, potassium, or magnesium) versus the acid (protonated) form. However, in the body’s aqueous environments such as blood or plasma, they dissociate, and it’s the hydroxycitrate anion that plays the key therapeutic role.

In the only biological system for which the question can be tested – the mouse-tumour model published in Schwartz et al. – the authors used the calcium salt (CaHC) and explicitly state that they obtained it from Sigma as “Garcinia cambogia extract, calcium hydroxycitrate”. They did not use, and therefore did not validate, the free acid or any retail “60 % HCA” Garcinia capsule. Because the calcium salt and the free acid differ in solubility, dissociation behaviour, pharmacokinetics and, very likely, intracellular cation load, you cannot assume that swallowing an HCA-rich Garcinia product plus α-lipoic acid will reproduce the experimental result.