Everything You Need to Know About Hoodia - A Dummies Guide to Hoodia Gordonii
In the deserts of South Africa a little cacti grows wild.
The local Bushmen call it Xhoba, but we in the west know it better as Hoodia.
What the busmen knew for centuries is that these little cacti helped them on their long tracks in search of food.
It pushed away the feeling of hunger while it kept their energy going for hours without a drop in levels.
In our modern society, where obesity is threatening our well being, people want to lose weight to stay healthy or look beautiful.
A search for supplements to help us achieve that goal is wide spread.
Big pharmaceutical companies and small entrepreneurs stumbled upon that cacti, researched it and found that a molecule in the cacti, called P57 is responsible for the feeling of fullness and can reduce calorie intake, in healthy people, by up to 1000 calories a day.
Now, don't rush into the Kalahari Dessert to munch on the cacti to lose weight.
First it's a cacti; as such it is thorny and unpleasant to eat.
Second, it was categorized by the South African government as an endangered species.
Third - you'll have to eat a whole lot to have the effect and you have to find the right kind of Hoodia (Gordonii) that does the trick.
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer invested 30 million in researching the plant, only to drop it a few years later because P57 was too costly to reproduce in the lab.
But where giants like Pfizer dropped the ball, other companies picked it up.
Unilever Corporation, which owns Slim Fast among its subsidiaries, has invested time and money in research and is looking into manufacturing it on a world-wide scale.
In 2004, CBS 60 minutes sent a reporter to the Kalahari to see what the rage is all about.
The female reporter tasted the plant, prepared for her by the local bushmen and proclaimed that it did suppress her appetite, but the taste was awful.
Hence the needs for a pill form.
Today, many companies are producing and selling Hoodia in pills or powders.
But beware - there are also many companies that do not sell you the right kind of extract from Hoodia.
You will be well advised to check if the Hoodia they advertise and sell is indeed from the right kind of plant and come from the deserts of South Africa.
The local Bushmen call it Xhoba, but we in the west know it better as Hoodia.
What the busmen knew for centuries is that these little cacti helped them on their long tracks in search of food.
It pushed away the feeling of hunger while it kept their energy going for hours without a drop in levels.
In our modern society, where obesity is threatening our well being, people want to lose weight to stay healthy or look beautiful.
A search for supplements to help us achieve that goal is wide spread.
Big pharmaceutical companies and small entrepreneurs stumbled upon that cacti, researched it and found that a molecule in the cacti, called P57 is responsible for the feeling of fullness and can reduce calorie intake, in healthy people, by up to 1000 calories a day.
Now, don't rush into the Kalahari Dessert to munch on the cacti to lose weight.
First it's a cacti; as such it is thorny and unpleasant to eat.
Second, it was categorized by the South African government as an endangered species.
Third - you'll have to eat a whole lot to have the effect and you have to find the right kind of Hoodia (Gordonii) that does the trick.
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer invested 30 million in researching the plant, only to drop it a few years later because P57 was too costly to reproduce in the lab.
But where giants like Pfizer dropped the ball, other companies picked it up.
Unilever Corporation, which owns Slim Fast among its subsidiaries, has invested time and money in research and is looking into manufacturing it on a world-wide scale.
In 2004, CBS 60 minutes sent a reporter to the Kalahari to see what the rage is all about.
The female reporter tasted the plant, prepared for her by the local bushmen and proclaimed that it did suppress her appetite, but the taste was awful.
Hence the needs for a pill form.
Today, many companies are producing and selling Hoodia in pills or powders.
But beware - there are also many companies that do not sell you the right kind of extract from Hoodia.
You will be well advised to check if the Hoodia they advertise and sell is indeed from the right kind of plant and come from the deserts of South Africa.