Hoodia And Weight Loss

Author: Jeff Adams

San tribesmen of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa have one of
the oldest primitive cultures in existence, maybe as old as
100,000 years. They are hunter-gatherers and go on long hunting
expeditions. Given the harsh desert and scarcity of game, they
chew on a succulent plant called Hoodia Gordonii to keep off
hunger and thirst.

In 1937 a Dutch anthropologist recorded, this fact and in the
1960s CSIR, the South African research council, started a study
on the plant. In 1997 CSIR took out a patent on a molecule of
Hoodia, named P57, as an aid in weight-loss treatment. In 1998
they made an agreement with a British company, Phytopharm, to
test and market the product.

Phytopharm carried out the usual clinical trails of P 57 and
announced a very positive result in 2001. In a double-blind
study volunteers were given 400mg of dried Hoodia per day. After
15 days they reduced their calorie intake by 1,000 per day. The
control group did not show any appreciable reduction.

In the mid-brain hypothalamus there are nerve cells that detect
glucose. When we eat, the glucose from food reaches these nerve
cells, and they fire signals that make you feel full. The
molecule in Hoodia Gordonii P 57 is 10,000 times as active as
glucose in making these cells start the signal and make you feel
full. This plant has proved to be a natural appetite
suppressant, without the side effects of other chemicals that
are being used for weight loss treatment.

Unfortunately, Pfizer has given up the attempt to develop a
synthetic P 57 as not economical. Despite all the hype of the
Hoodia manufacturers, it is simply a natural way of suppressing
appetite and nothing more. For a sensible program to lose weight
you take it as one aspect of the total. You need to combine it
with a nutritious diet, exercise and life-style modification,
and each one of these is more important than the appetite
suppressant. A sensible weight loss program is one that can be
sustained over a long term without undergoing any privations.

Hoodia Gordoni is a very useful supplement during the initial
stages of a weight-loss program to shed the extra pounds. But
altering behavior patterns can keep those pounds off permanently.

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