Weight Loss Articles

Hoodia gordonii looks like a cactus, but it's actually a succulent from the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. Bushmen from the area have been using hoodia for centuries to help ward off hunger during long trips in the desert.

Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola.

Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is actually a succulent, not a cactus. It takes about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.

Hoodia gordonii is entirely natural - it is not a drug. Pharmaceutical companies find it so promising, however, that they are trying to isolate the appetite-suppressing molecule, P57, to create a patented diet drug in the future.

In 2001 Phytopharm completed a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study in overweight, but otherwise healthy volunteers using the P57 extract from Hoodia gordonii.

The participants were split into two groups, one group received the P57 and the other received a placebo. Both groups were told to continue their normal diet and exercise. The results were as follows:

When comparing the P57 group to the Placebo group:
The P57 group had a statistically significant reduction in body fat.
The P57 group had a statistically significant reduction in caloric intake.
The P57 had no adverse side effects.

On average the P57 group ate about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900.

There have not been any side effects reported from eating Hoodia or from taking the P-57 molecule. Remember, for thousands of years that Bushmen have eaten hoodia gordonii plants with no ill side effects.

How can P57 (and Hoodia Gordonii) really suppress appetite to such a great extent?

It is believed that Hoodia (and more specifically the p-57 in the hoodia) imitates the effect glucose has on nerve cells in the brain.

Basically, hoodia fools the brain into thinking it's full when it's not. So, your brain sends the signal that it is full and this cuts your urge to snack on unhealthy food. In fact, hoodia is more powerful than glucose in telling the brain that you are full.

If you're on the Internet searching for hoodia, it's almost impossible to know you're buying the real deal. There are simply far too many con artists on the loose, and they know that people are desperate for hoodia. Everybody wants to lose weight, right?

But beware! If I were you, I wouldn't buy from just anybody. It's hard to know who to trust in this emerging, high-profit business. Anybody can throw powder into a capsule and claim it's hoodia, but can they prove it?

There are two certified documents required to prove the authenticity of pure South African Hoodia. They are the C.I.T.E.S Certificate and the Analytical Report.