Hoodia Gordonii Plus is a weight-loss herbal supplement that is said to suppress the appetite. The active ingredient in this product, hoodia, comes from a small succulent plant indigenous to semi-arid areas of Africa. It has long been consumed by the Kalahari Bushmen, a tribe native to South Africa, for controlling hunger and thirst while they go out on long hunting expeditions. Research on the effects of hoodia are in the earliest stages as of May 2010.
Hoodia
Phytopharm, the British pharmaceutical company that manufactures this hoodia supplement, reports that overweight men assigned to take hoodia extract two times a day for 15 days significantly decreased their caloric intake compared to those who took a placebo. Phytopharm claims that hoodia extracts are part of a global patenting program in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Japan.
Hoodia in the News
Following the ban of ephedra by the Food and Drug Administration, pharmaceutical companies were on the prowl for another miracle weight-loss drug. Hoodia had just been introduced to the world and news correspondents were going to South Africa to see what it was about. In 2003, a BBC correspondent, Tom Mangold, went to the Kalahari desert to sample the hoodia plant. He reported feeling good and having no appetite whatsoever. His desire for food was staved off for about 24 hours. In 2004, Leslie Stahl of "60 Minutes" retraced Mangold's footsteps. Stahl also had no appetite or thirst for about 24 hours.
Function
Hoodia works because of a molecule, found and now patented by the pharmaceutical company Phytopharm, that is similar to, but extraordinarily more powerful than, glucose (or sugar). When people eat, nerve cells in the brain sense glucose, and when food causes glucose levels to rise, signals are sent indicating that people are full. P57, the active molecule in hoodia, is about 10,000 times more powerful than glucose, according to Dr. Richard Dixey, co-founder of Phytopharm, causing the brain to signal feeling full regardless of how much people have eaten.
Other Ingredients
Other ingredients in Hoodia Gordonii Plus include magnesium, garcinia cambogia extract and green tea extract. Magnesium is needed for proper functioning of more than 300 biochemical reactions, including muscle and nerve function. In a 2003 study by "Current Therapeutic Research," lead study author Kohsuke Hayamizu reported that garcinia cambogia may help reduce abdominal fat. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) reports that green tea helps prevent a variety of cancers, improves mental alertness, aids in weight loss and helps lower cholesterol.
Side Effects
The NCCAM reports that the potential safety, risks and side effects of hoodia products are largely unknown because there is little research on its effects on humans. Some hoodia products contain very little, if any, hoodia at all. While the company that markets Hoodia Gordonni Plus offers images of documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and another from the South African government (see Resources) giving permission to ship the plant out of the country, neither is meant to vouch for the safety of hoodia as a dietary supplement.
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