Hoodia Patches & Weight Loss

Southern Africans have used hoodia as an appetite suppressant for hundreds of years. Today, hoodia is formulated into weight loss patches that slowly release compounds that may curb appetite in a manner similar to nicotine patches for smoking cessation. However, despite the popularity of these products, there is little clinical evidence that hoodia patches for weight loss are effective or safe.

Botanical Background

Hoodia is a genus of about a dozen flowering succulent plants native to the Namib Desert region of southwestern Angola and the Republic of Namibia. The species Hoodia gordonii, found in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, is the plant harvested as a natural appetite suppressant. Due to concerns about over- harvesting and to preserve the economic interests of South African farmers, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research restricts the harvesting and marketing of hoodia to a limited number of licensed individuals and entities, and a portion of the proceeds are reserved for the San tribes people.

Chemical Composition

According to the database provided by the website Drugs, H. gordonii contains more than a dozen specialized steroid glycosides, but the primary agent attributed with suppressing appetite reported in the patent literature is a molecule dubbed P57. However, Boris Le Nevé and colleagues at the Technical University of Munich reported in the October 7, 2010 issue of "American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestrointestinal and Liver Physiology" that another steroid glycoside labeled H.g.-12 may also contribute to appetite suppression.

Pharmacology

The authors of the study found that H.g.-12 stimulates the release of a peptide hormone called cholecystokinin in endocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract in both human and rat cell lines. As the researchers note in their report, this hormone is known to regulate appetite using the vagus nerve as a pathway, a nerve that extends from the brain stem through the wall of the abdomen and stomach. In short, this nerve tells the intestines and stomach when to digest food and informs the brain when hunger is satisfied.

Effectiveness and Safety

In search of evidence of the efficacy of hoodia, A.M. Wheelan and colleagues at Dalhousie University in Canada conducted a review of the medical literature, which included the Cochrane Library, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, Medline and other sources. In the October 2010 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics," the researchers reported that "no published, peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials examining efficacy of hoodia were found."

Drugs.com says that trials indicating weight loss promoted by hoodia compounds are poorly documented and lack scientific merit. In addition, little is known about dosage and safety during pregnancy and lactation.

Other Considerations

Although the United States Department of Agriculture and other agencies mandate that the importation of hoodia must be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, the production of hoodia weight loss patches in the US is not as well controlled. In fact, several manufacturers have been sued upon determination that their product contained little or no hoodia gordonii.