Hoodia Works Safely for Weight Loss

There are several names for this plant but its well known as Hoodia. Hoodia is basically cactus like plant that can suppress one’s appetite and can aid one in weight loss.

Hoodia is usually sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in Health food stores and even on the web. Hoodia Gordonii can even be found on the semi deserts of South Africa, Namibi and Angola

Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is actually a succulent. It takes 5 years before the plant becomes suitable for harvest. There are 20 types of Hoodia, only Hoodia Gordonii is the variety believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant ability and the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert have been eating it for a very long time.

These Bushmen that lived off the land would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to suppress their hunger and thirst during long hunting trips. They even utilized the plant for some medical purposes to solve some illnesses.

Scientist began to observe the Hoodia plant in 1937, at 1963 they had started research on it and initial results were promising, lab animals lost weight from using hoodia.

The South African scientists, working with a British company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, which is a steroidal glycoside, which was named p57. After getting a patent in 1995, they licensed p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million on hoodia research, and was very much worth it. Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and became interested in developing a hoodia drug and by 1998; Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights concerning the development of p57 to Pfizer with 21 million dollars.

Much popularity of Hoodia first started after ‘60 minutes’ correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew traveled to Africa to try hoodia. There they hired a local Bushmen to escort them to the desert and then track down Hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it as “cucumbery in texture, but not bad.” She lost the desire to eat or drink the entire day. She also didn’t encounter any side effects like indigestion or heart palpitations. Stahl says, “I’d have to say it did work.”

First studies concerning Hoodia Gordonii was done in the UK on obese patients. There, half of them were given Hoodia Gordonii while the other with placebo. The subjects were then allowed to do their usual routines in life. After 15 days it was found that those taking Hoodia had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 calories a day. While those that took Hoodia lost weight even with unlimited access to food.