Hoodia Gordonii

Hoodia Gordonii is a suculent plant found in Africa and said to have appetite
suppressing qualities. The Kalahari bushmen of Africa are said to have used
it for thousands of years to suppress their hunger when hunting. Does Hoodia
Gordonii really suppress appetite though?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that yes Hoodia Gordonii does suppress appetite.
It has become very popular recently and there was even a segment done on 60
Minutes where Leslie Stahl actually travelled to Africa to try Hoodia
Gordonii. She reported that the Hoodia gave her no side effects such as
jitteriness or upset stomach and her hunger during that day was virtually
non-existent.

Even though anecdotal evidence suggests that Hoodia Gordonii is effective
and safe as an appetite suppressant, there have been no clinical studies to
date that prove oral Hoodia will work effectively to supress the appetite of
a human.

One company called Phytopharm has isolated what they believe is the active
ingredient in Hoodia Gordonii. They named it p57 and hold the licence to
the patent for it. Phytopharm has spent over 20 million dollars on Hoodia
research.

Even though Hoodia Gordonii is reported to be safe and gentle there are some
potential side effect to beware of. One of the scientists at Pfizer who
studied the herb reported that Hoodia negatively affects liver function.
It is also believed that the hunger suppressing mechanism of Hoodia comes
from its ability to trick the brain into believing blood sugar levels are
higher than they actually are. This would make it very dangerous for
diabetics.

Finally, Hoodia is believed to suppress thirst as well as appetite. This
make dehydration a very real concern for Hoodia users.

Another concern is the purity of the Hoodia available on the market today.
It has been estimated by some that 80% of the available Hoodia pills are
conterfeit or adulterated. There are no established tests for the purity of
Hoodia so it is difficult to determine the purity of the Hoodia in any given
supplement even if there have been independent labratory tests.

The hoodia pills that have been consistently verified as pure hoodia,
according to Mike Adams of the website News Target, include the Desert Burn
brand, the Hoodoba brand from Strictly Health Corp., and the Hoodia Hoodia
brand from Millennium Health.