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What you need to know about hoodia gordoniiHoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is also called hoodia, xhooba,!khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus.

Hoodia is just a cactus that is causing a stir because of its capability to reduce appetite and promote weight reduction. The BBC, ABC, and 60 Minutes have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia comes in capsule, fluid, or tea kind in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia gordonii is found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps of green vertical stems and is truly a succulent, not just a cactus. It will take about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be collected. While there are 20 forms of hoodia, just the hoodia gordonii selection is thought to retain the natural appetite suppressant.

Even though hoodia was "discovered" relatively lately, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who stay off the land, would cut off area of the hoodia stem and consume it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic shopping trips. In addition they used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.

In 1937, a anthropologist studying the San Bushmen observed that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. However it was not until 1963 when researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national lab, began observing hoodia. Initial results were encouraging -- laboratory animals lost weight after taking hoodia.

The South African boffins, working together with a company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57. After finding a patent in 1995, they registered p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent significantly more than $20 million on hoodia research.

In the course of time pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (manufacturers of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and became interested in developing a hoodia drug. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to develop p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer recently returned the rights to hoodia to Phytopharm, who's now working with Unilever.

What you need to know about hoodiaHoodia seems to control appetiteMuch of the news about hoodia started after 60 minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew moved to Africa to try hoodia. They employed a nearby Bushman to choose them into the desert and find some hoodia. It was eaten by stahl, describing it as "cucumbery in texture, however, not bad." The desire was lost by her the complete day to eat or drink. She also did not experience any immediate unwanted effects, such as heartburn or heart palpitations. Stahl concluded, "I had need certainly to say it did work."

In animal studies, hoodia is thought to reduce calorie intake by 30 to 50 per cent. There is one human study showing a decreased absorption of about 1000 calories per day. But, I've perhaps not had the opportunity to locate either study to really read for myself and am going on secondhand reports. optimum hoodia

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