Hoodia Gordonii has many names – hoodia, Ghaap, xhooba, khoba, hoodia cactus or South-African desert cactus. The Hoodia itself is pronounced ‘hoo-dee-ah’. Hoodia is a really well-known cactus because of its being really effective among natural appetite suppressants and hoodia weight loss is a well-known fact. In 60 minutes, BBCm ABC you may find a lot of information on its origin and study. On the internet and health food stores hoodia tea, hoodia capsule are available, it’s also sold in the form of a liquid. It grows in the deserts of South Africa – Botswana, Namibia and Angola. In fact, Hoodia isn’t a cactus, although it resembles it. It’s a succulent, which grows in clumps of green stalks. It can be harvested only after five years of growing, when pale-purple flowers appear. There are 20 kinds of Hoodia, but only Hoodia Gordonii species are natural appetite suppressants.
The West has discovered Hoodia not so long ago, while the tribe of the Kalahari Desert, called the San Bushmen, has been using its qualities. The Bushmen had to go for long trips and hunt, that’s why they got used to eating a piece of Hoodia just before the trip in order to put off the hunger and thirst. Other benefits of Hoodia for them were its treating of haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, hypertension, diabetes, indigestion and spasms in the abdomen.
The first west man who has noticed the hoodia plants being natural appetite suppressants was a Dutch anthropologist. In 1937 he studied the Bushmen and noticed the way in which they used Hoodia. But the first laboratory research of Hoodia was performed only in 1963 by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa. The results were stunning – the animals which were given Hoodia began to lose weight. Further study with a British company Phytopharm made it possible to isolate the active molecule, which was named P57. Phytopharm has spent $20 million on the Hoodia research, so after the patent on P57 was obtained, the company has bought it. Phytopharm has made a deal with a pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, selling the rights to it for $21 million. Pfizer firstly was interesting in developing hoodia weight loss effects, but then returned the rights to develop P57 back to Phytopharm. Now Phytopharm is cooperating with Unilever.
The stir about Hoodia appeared after the traveling of correspondent of 60 minutes Leslie Stahl to Africa and trying Hoodia. A local man from the Bushmen was hired to lead them through the desert in order to find Hoodia. Leslie Stahl has tried it and described hoodia being in some way alike with a cucumber. After eating hoodia, she didn’t feel hunger and thirst for the whole day. Besides, no side effects were found. She didn’t notice any digestion problems, and her heart wasn’t racing. So Leslie Stahl by personal example has proven that the wonderful effects of Hoodia actually work. To add more, animal test have shown that the caloric consumption reduces by up to 50%. A human test held has shown that a person who takes hoodia starts to consume 1000 less calories a day.
To get more information visit Hoodia Website
