Hoodia Cactus And Diet Pills

Author: Jeff Adams

Most of the journalists used the name, "the African Hoodia
Cactus" when they learned about the hunger-suppressing plant
from South Africa. What they meant was "Hoodia Gordonii," found
wild in the Kalahari Desert. It does not belong to the cactus
genus.

Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent. The Genus is Trichocaulon and
the family name is Asclepiadaceae. It is a grayish brown plant
with ten or more tentacles, resembling a long cucumber with
spikes. The height of the plant can be 18 inches to 6 feet. It
is bitter-tasting, with an unpleasant smell.

The San Bushmen have been using this plant for thousands of
years as a hunger suppressant while on long hunts. CSIR of South
Africa took a patent on the plant as a weight-loss aid and sold
it to a British pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm. The plant
grows only in a desert climate and takes about 5 to 7 years to
mature. Attempts to grow them in China, Mexico and the USA
failed.

Phytopharm successfully conducted clinical trials on the plant
and combined with Pfizer of the USA to produce P 57, the active
ingredient of Hoodia, synthetically. After the attempt failed,
because it was uneconomical, they arranged for large plantations
in South Africa to cultivate the plant. They have tied up with
Unilever, a British MNC and food giant, to test and market the
product by 2008.

After a legal challenge and subsequent settlement between the
San tribe lawyer and CSIR of South Africa, the Bushmen are to be
given part of the profits made from the sales of the product. In
an October 2004 convention at Bangkok, CITES (Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and
Flora) included Hoodia Gordonii in Appendix II. This means that
the South African government has an active control over this
plant, and is not likely to allow over-exploitation of wild
Hoodia.

It is proving to be a difficult task. Taking a plant from the
wild desert and growing it as a plantation crop is a challenge
that the scientists involved are facing. Diseases, pests and a
lot of agricultural practices have to be understood. However,
they are confident of success in putting the product on the
supermarket shelf by 2008.

read more at: http://www.weight-loss-guide.biz/Hoodia-Cactus.php

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