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Hoodia Gordonii, a South African herb, comes from the Apocynaceae stem succulent flowering plant family. In many parts of South Africa the herb is a protected plant and is also grown as a garden plant in many regions.
The diet herb came to the notice of the scientific world in the 1960s when the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research investigated African plants being used for medicinal purposes. These scientists claimed that Hoodia caused lab animals to lose weight because of appetite suppression. |
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The History of Hoodia Gordonii
Once this was discovered, the CSIR handed over research to a British company called Phytopham, hoping they could isolate the active element in the plant. Although Phytopham researchers began investigating the plant in the 1960s and have spent more than $20 million on Hoodia Gordinii research, a patent wasn’t given for the drug until 1995.
Long before this patent was received, though, Hoodia p57 became known as the common active ingredient in the South African herb. Keep in mind that there are 13 different species of hoodia and only Hoodia Gordinii carries the active ingredient necessary for weight loss and appetite suppression.
For a brief time in 1998, the drug company Pfizer took over the rights to the supplement, but soon closed their plant that deals with herbs and natural substances, so handed the rights back over to Phytopham. Some resources also suggest that Pfizer handed the rights back over because Hoodia p57 was too difficult to create synthetically. Currently Phytopham is working with a company called Unilever in its efforts to safely monitor the production and use of Hoodia.
Because Phytopham took so long to market their product and patent the rights, other natural herb companies began receiving supplies of the herb from South Africa and began selling it in other forms. Phytopham cites needing time for more research on safe and effective usage as the reason for the long delay.
Their clinical trials suggest that in human volunteers, appetites were suppressed by nearly 1000 calories a day as compared to a placebo group. Unfortunately, none of this research is published or has been peer reviewed, so it is difficult to determine whether these results are true. Currently Hoodia Gordonii is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Hoodia Gordinii only exploded on the diet supplement scene recently, after Hoodia and Oprah crossed paths. In July 2005, the O Magazine had an article that backed the use of natural ingredient as an effective and safe weight loss supplement. The explosion of the herb also came around the same time that researchers began to suggest that ephedra should be banned from used because of concerns for the health of users.
Since Hoodia and Oprah got together, the herb has exploded in weight loss products. With this, though, has come the increase of off brands of hoodia being sold under the guise of the active ingredient species. Some resources suggest that nearly 80% of hoodia products available are generic or not actually containing Hoodia p57.
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