Hoodia Gordonii for Weight Loss?

Hoodia Gordonii for Weight Loss? Hoodia gordonii is sold for weight loss now, but it wasn't always that way. As you know it is a South African cactus-like plant native to the Kalahari Desert, is an alleged appetite suppressant and weight loss supplement.

It is a member of a plant family containing 13 species of flowering succulents. Current information indicates that hoodia gordonii can only grow in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. Worldwide media coverage of hoodia has created a growing craze for this alleged weight loss supplement.

The San is the name for the inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert who discovered and used hoodia for thousands of years. According to reports, these hunters would often go on extended hunting trips of several days. They would eat hoodia during these hunting trips to suppress their appetites for two main reasons. First, they had a tradition of communal dining, and so waited until they got home before eating their kill. Second, they were less likely to eat what they had killed before they got it home.

Hoodia Gordonii for Weight Loss?

Tip! There are many kinds of hoodia plant. But only the hoodia gordonii species contains an active ingredient that helps suppress your appetite. Have you heard about Hoodia Gordonii? It's marketed as an "amazing" new weight loss ingredient that will help you lose weight without feeling hungry.

The many advertisements hyping the product claim that Hoodia Gordonii contains a "miracle molecule for weight loss called P57 that tricks the brain into thinking you've eaten, and makes you feel full." The claims do not stop there; in addition to losing weight, the ads claim you will feel better while taking this super weight loss ingredient, because Hoodia has "a feel-good, aphrodisiac quality."

Is Hoodia Gordonii for Weight Loss?

Hoodia is a succulent that looks like a cactus. It has been described as a somewhat bitter-tasting cucumber that thrives in extremely hot, dry weather and takes 5-7 years to reach maturity. Hoodia grows in the Kalahari Desert region of South Africa, as well as the countries of Botswana, Namibia and Angola. It is said that for generations the San Bushmen, tribesmen native to the regions Hoodia grows, have removed the skin and spines of Hoodia prior to consumption as a way to curb their hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips.

In 1995 scientists isolated that one molecule in the plant that is responsible for the Hoodia

appetite reducing effect. The molecule was named P57. The process to isolate the P57 compound was patented and the rights were sold to a British company called Phytopharm. In 1998 Phytopharm signed a licensing agreement with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Together, these two companies set the goal to isolate P57 in order to market and sell it for commercial weight loss purposes in the form of diet pills and capsules. In 2003, after many years of research, and no marketable P57 diet product, Pfizer elected to end its Hoodia contract with Phytopharm. Why? The process of isolating the P57 compound was way too costly to produce as a commercial weight loss product.

Research on Hoodia for Weight Loss

Phytopharm conducted one proprietary clinical study in 2001. The results of this study were never submitted to a peer-reviewed journal; however, nearly every Hoodia marketer promotes the study in announcing the legitimacy of their product as a "magical" weight loss ingredient.

The small study included only (18) eighteen subjects and they were all obese. The subjects took either the P57 compound or a placebo twice a day for 15 days. What Phytopharm concluded from their study was that the obese people who took P57 reduced their daily calorie intake by 1,000 and suffered no adverse effects.

Phytopharm was so encouraged by their own study that they invested millions of dollars to Hoodia Gordonii Weight Loss determine how effectively farm and cultivate Hoodia. In December of 2004 Phytopharm and Unilever (which owns commercially popular SlimFast amongst other business holdings) announced a deal which they claim will put Hoodia on the market within 3 years. Unilever paid $21 million to help fund additional clinical trials and expansion of the Hoodia cultivation program in South Africa and Namibia. Their goal is to include P57 in food products such as breakfast bars and meal replacement shakes and other diet related products.

Most of the hoodia diet patch products we've seen claim their product will work more effectively than hoodia pills or capsules because it will enter your bloodstream quicker, bypassing your stomach and, therefore, give you faster and better results.

With the right conditions hoodia can be one of the easiest plants to grow. But it must be grown in the desert. Someday we may learn that Hoodia does promote weight loss by effectively suppressing appetite, but until we do, we should all be careful how we spend our money on weight loss products claiming to contain Hoodia or its active ingredient P57.

Hoodia Weight Loss products are the best selling ephedra free weight loss supplements. Find out why.