Hoodia Gordonii appetite suppressant

Hoodia (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is a genus of 13 species within the Apocynaceae family. Apocynaceae is a flowering plant. Hoodia is under the sub family of Asclepiadoideae. Hoodia are stem succulents and described as cactiform due to its similarity with the cactus family. Hoodia is otherwise not related to cactus. Hoodia plants can grow as high as 1 metre. They have large flowers of flesh color. These flowers have a strong smell.

Hoodia has several species and some of these are protected plants. Many of species are grown as garden plants. One of these species, Hoodia Gordonii is believed to be an appetite suppressant.

Hoodia currently finds a place in Appendix II to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This list comprises of species which while not currently considered endangered, are at risk of becoming endangered if trade is not controlled.

Whether Hoodia Gordonii is really an appetite suppressant is a point of dispute. The FDA does not see it as an appetite suppressant. Hoodia Gordonii sold as a weight loss supplement is usually without the approval of FDA.

Other Names for Hoodia include hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, South African desert cactus.

Hoodia is a bitter-tasting cactus-like plant. In November 2004, CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl covered Hoodia Gordonii on 60 Minutes and made the world curious about this drug. Lesley travelled to the Kalahari Desert of Africa where the aboriginal Bushman reside. Stahl tried the wild plant and described the taste as 'a little cucumbery in texture, but not bad.'. Lesley Stahl claimed that she experienced no side effects at all after consuming the Hoodia plant. She said she did not feel like eating or drinking anything through the day. Stahl said that she would have to admit that it worked for her.

The Bushmen who have lived in the Kalahari dessert for over 100,000 years have been consuming Hoodia since time immemorial. In fact Lesley Stahl wasn't the first journalist to go to the Kalahari and rave about Hoodia. A year before him BBC correspondent Tom Mangold had visited the Kalahari dessert. Mangold and his camerman both ate a 'half banana size' Hoodia. Tom said the 'aphrodisiac like' quality of Hoodia seems likely because he confirms feeling 'good'. He also said that he and his cameraman 'did not even think about food'. Their brains were telling them they were full. It took 24 hours for them to feel hungry again.

It's not every day that seasoned media people like Tom Mangold and Lesley Stahl go overboard with a drug. Every new weight loss drug is usually greeted with skepticism and experts look for side effects which may have gone unreported earlier.

When South African scientists were routinely testing Hoodia, they discovered that the Hoodia plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been named P 57.

In 2001 Phytopharm completed a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study in overweight, but otherwise healthy volunteers using an extract of Hoodia. The large doses of extract caused a statistically significant reduction in the average daily calorie intake. In addition, a statistically significant reduction in body fat content was also observed compared to the placebo group after two weeks.

A clinical trial conducted by Phytopharm demonstrated that repeat dose administration of large doses of Hoodia extract caused a statistically significant decrease in daily calorie intake. By day 15 the calorie intake had decreased by approximately 1000 kcal per day.

Unlike many of the diet pills that have been sold on the market with FDA approval, tests for Hoodia have shown no side effects at all. Not surprisingly, the bushmen of Kalahari have been consuming Hoodia for thousands of years.

The license for this was sold to a Cambridgeshire bio-pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, who then sold the development and marketing rights to the pharma major, Pfizer Corporation. Pfizer has since opted out after spending millions of dollars and now Unilever has a deal with Phytopharm for Hoodia. Their Hoodia drug is expected to hit the market sometime in 2008.

The first ever scientific investigation of Hoodia was conducted at South Africa’s national laboratory. Bushmen have been known to eat Hoodia and so it was included in a study of indigenous foods. Dr. Richard Dixey who headed Phytopharm said the animals lost weight. It took a long time for the appetite suppressant quality of Hoodia to become obvious. The original research was done in the 1960s.

The South African national laboratory took three decades to isolate and identify the specific appetite-suppressing ingredient in Hoodia. When they found it, they patented it and licensed it to Phytopharm.

How does Hoodia work?

Hoodia and specifically, the P 57 molecule in Hoodia tricks the brain into thinking that you're full. So the brain tells you that you don't need more food and this curtails your urge to binge. To quote Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey,

"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."

The Hoodia drug currently in development by Phytopharm and Unilver is a little while away. Meanwhile many companies continue to sell drugs which they claim contain 'Hoodia' or 'Hoodia Gordonii'. Many of these claims may be fake. Hoodia is listed under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and is illegal to export from Africa without a CITES certificate being issued by proper authorities. Current U.S. laws stipulate that not only must a CITES certificate accompany shipments of Hoodia gordonii but that the importers must possess a permit issued by the USDA to import Terrestrial Plants. In order to re-export H. gordonii, you must apply for a CITES re-export certificate.

As of 2007 there are four independent labs which are conducting tests to verify Hoodia gordonii in consumer products. They are: Advanced Laboratories, Inc. in Smithfield, North Carolina, Alkemist Pharmaceuticals, Chromadex Labs of Costa Mesa, California, and the University of Mississippi. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is also working on a Hoodia Standard which is believed to be available in the industry in late 2007 in response to scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission of the Hoodia industry and complaints by consumers of fraudulent Hoodia products being marketed.

There are many weight loss products being marketed which list Hoodia as an ingredient. Even if some of them do contain Hoodia, the appetite suppressant quality has been found specifically in Hoodia Gordonii which cannot be exported without special permissions. There is a framework in place to ensure that the bushmen receive royalties for all Hoodia sourced from the Kalahari and companies which are not known to be paying such royalties have no way of accessing genuine Hoodia. This plant cannot be grown outside of the Kalahari. All attempts to grow it in North America are known to have failed.