Facts About The Hoodia Gordonii Plant

In recent years there Hoodia Gordonii plant has generated a great deal of media attention here in the United States. People have been exited about this plant since a British pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm conducted research that proved the active ingredient in the plant, P57, diminishes an individual's appetite for food. Since then various companies have been selling capsules, teas and liquids that allegedly contain Hoodia Gordonii extract.

Where It Grows And What It Looks Like

The Hoodia Gordonii plant grows in certain countries in the southern region of Africa, near the Kalahari desert. The Hoodia Gordonii plant will only grow in a very hot climate. People have attempted to grow the plant in other continents without success. The plant does not flourish where there is excess water, humidity or cold weather.

The Hoodia Gordonii plant is not considered to be very attractive. In fact some people would even describe it as being unsightly. It is a succulent plant that looks very much like a cactus, although officially it isn’t one. The flowers of the plant have fleshy pink petals.

A Brief History

The San Bushmen of southern Africa have been using Hoodia Gordonii plants for several thousand years. They chewed on the plant in order to quench their thirst and suppress their appetite so that they could give their full attention to hunting game without needing to stop in order to eat.

In the 1990s the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research discovered that the Hoodia Gordonii plant made animals lose weight while they were studying the diet of the San Bushmen. They soon managed to find out what molecule in the plant acted as an appetite suppressant and sold the patent to Phytopharm. The appetite suppressant molecule the researchers discovered is called P57. Since then various pharmaceutical companies have been looking for ways to synthesize the P57 molecule from the plant into pills and other products that can be sold to promote weight loss.

How It Works

What exactly does the active ingredient in the Hoodia Gordonii plant do to help people and animals lose weight? Apparently molecule P57 stimulates the nerve cells of the hypothalamus in the same way as glucose so that it tricks the brain of the individual who has ingested it into thinking it is full. As a result people who ingest the Hoodia Gordonii plant do not have any desire to eat for several hours.

Empirical studies of the Hoodia Gordonii plant have shown that people who ingest it eat an average of one thousand calories less than they would normally consume in a one day period. The long term effects of consuming the plant are not yet known, though the San Bushmen have used it for centuries without experiencing any adverse symptoms.