Hoodia Gordonii Review: Does It Work?
Hoodia Gordonii for Weight Loss?
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 contains a "miracle molecule
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." What exactly is Hoodia and does
it really work? Let us take a closer look at this "miracle
appetite suppressant."
What is Hoodia Gordonii? 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
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 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 meal replacement shakes
and other diet related products.
What Does The Future Hold For Hoodia?
To date there has, not been any controlled Hoodia clinical study
that shows statistically significant results for weight loss.
However, this does not mean that Hoodia will not offer potential
as an appetite suppressant in the future. If additional research
indicates that Hoodia works as well as Phytopharm suggests it
does, then it may in fact turn out to be a useful way to control
weight. Until then, Phytopharm needs to conduct more clinical
research with Hoodia so that broader conclusions may be reached.
In the meantime, consumers should be aware of the unscrupulous
Hoodia product peddlers attempting to dupe the public by
offering for sale dried, powdered versions of Hoodia that are
not regulated or inspected, and the exact contents of which are
unknown. In addition, it should be stated that the appetite
suppressing ability of Hoodia has only been shown effective in
large fresh pieces of the plant, about 2 or 3 inches long. The
dried powder that many peddlers are hawking these days contains
such a small amount of P57 that it cannot produce any true,
desired effect. This clearly demonstrates that many of these
Hoodia peddlers are attempting to make a quick buck off the
unsuspecting consumer. If the manufacturing process was as easy
as drying and grinding the Hoodia plant don't you think Pfizer
and Phytopharm would have been selling P57 as a weight loss
product back in 1998?
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.