The Science Behind Hoodia Gordonii

Scientifically speaking, hoodia gordonii aids in weight loss by communicating you are full to a part of your brain called the hypothalamus. You do feel as hungry so you don't eat as much, resulting in natural weight loss without side effects. Unlike other dietary aids, hoodia does not alter metabolic functions in your body or speed up your heart.

For centuries, hoodia has grown naturally in South Africa and was used there to effectively suppress the appetite and aid digestion. Hoodia is from the genus trichocaulon and family name asclepiadaceae and full grown plants can be up to 6 feet tall. There are 13 different species of hoodia but only hoodia gordonii is used as an appetite suppressant. A Dutch anthropologist discovered the use of hoodia by San Bushmen as an appetite suppressant during the 1930's. In 1977, the ingredient called molecule P57 was isolated by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and later patented in 1996.

Although the Bushmen did not conduct clinical studies of hoodia gordonii, they used it safely for thousands of years as part of their diet to fight hunger during long hunting expeditions. Phytopharm conducted a placebo-controlled blind clinical study of hoodia in 2001 and found the average person using the diet aid reduced their daily diet by around 1,000 calories per day without adverse side effects.

The BBC reported through correspondent Tom Mangold in 2003 that Dr. Richard Dixey of Phytopharm explained P57 and hoodia by stating, "There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus. Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar. When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full. What the Hoodia seems to contain is a molecule that is about 10,000 times as active as glucose. It goes to the mid-brain and actually makes those nerve cells fire as if you were full. But you have not eaten. Nor do you want to."

Correspondent Mangold himself commented about his use of hoodia and said, " I ate about half a banana size (piece of hoodia gordonii) - and later so did my cameraman. Soon after, we began the four hour drive back to Capetown. The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and I have to say, we felt good. But more significantly, we did not even think about food. Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception. Dinner time came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted nor ate breakfast. I ate lunch but without appetite and very little pleasure. Partial then full appetite returned slowly after 24 hours."

Brown Medical School established the link between the hypothalamus and hoodia in a study using a group of rats that was injected with P57 and a control group injected with a placebo. Within 24 hours, the ATP neurotransmitter and cell energy source in hypothalamic neurons increased up to 50 to 150 percent and food intake decreased by 40 to 60 percent in the group of rats injected with P57.

Even the press, who is traditionally critical, has been receptive toward hoodia as an appetite suppressant. According to a another transcript, which is from 60 Minutes as reported by Leslie Stahl in 2004 when she tried hoodia, "I'd have to say it did work."

With scientific evidence, positive press from major international sources and thousands of years of safe use in South Africa, clearly hoodia is one of the safest, most powerful appetite suppressants available today.

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