The Popularity of Hoodia Gordonii

It was said that hoodia gordonii from South Africa can serve as an appetite suppressant and has effective weight loss properties. This cactus like plant from the Kalahari Desert belongs to a flowering succulent family which exists with 13species. The South African hoodia Gordonii grows exclusively in the South African Kalahari Desert. The coverage of this South African weight loss breakthrough on the popular media outfits has stirred the interest of the global community with its claims to effectively suppress appetite and render positive results in terms of weight loss goals.

In the year of 2004, there is a major American television network which sent off a crew to research on the South African hoodia gordonii. The American TV crews traveled all the way to South Africa and hired several native Bushmen tracker to locate areas where the South African Hoodia plant grows. The Bushmen tracker located the area and offered the reporters to taste it. The TV crew described the texture of Hoodia as similar to a cucumber and has tolerable taste.

After tasting the South African hoodia, the tv crews were not hungry and reported no thirst pangs the entire day. Despite the meals that they have missed, there is no trace of hunger as they stayed in the desert. The crew went on to report that the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert have been using hoodia for several years in order to suppress their hunger for several thousands of years ago.

Hoodia gordonii has been researched since 1960s but the effects of this plant in appetite suppression have not been discovered yet. It took around 30 years for the active substance in this South African hoodia gordonii to be isolated and easily identifies by the South African national laboratory. The immediate discovery of this substance was licensed and patented to a UK based pharmaceutical company by the name of Phytopharm.

Phytopharm invested several millions on this research. Thus, their has been a lot of clinical trials on the effectiveness of hoodia gordonii. It was sid that the hoodia gordonii were said to decrease the appetite by approximately 1,000 calories in the day. One of the major concerns in synthesizing the natural substance of hoodia is difficult. There is no way possible to make a synthetic version of the active substance which makes it as a strong suppressant of appetite.

This was just some of the stories related to the existence of hoodia gordonii. Though these may have some truth in it, discipline should define your weight loss goals. No matter what kind of weight loss regimen you have in mind, you have to discipline yourself and stop giving in to cravings and too much food intake.