HCA has the ability to work for some individuals, but you need to take it in high doses. I have use it before for 1 year stright at 5 to 6 grams per day. 1.5 grams 30 minutes before eating time. II find that with these doses I stayed alot leaner and could actually eat alot more carbs and not get fat, but the problem was that it suppreses appetite big time with these doses an it makes it very hard for you to eat carbs. It's like you are eating carbs, but you have no appetite for carbs and you have to force feed yourself. I think that it has the possibility of working on some individuals as long as it's in high doses. It has worked great with me in the past, but I have swithed to ALA now and find it to be way!!! more effective than HCA. I still use the HCA sometimes to suppress my appetite when dieting. When I tend to use high doses of ALA when dieting I tend to get huge cravings for carbs even thought I eat close to 300 carbs of carbs when dietinga day. The HCA helps fight the hunger. and totally eliminates it.