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Hoodia Know!

Recently I have been asked a lot about what my opinion is of Hoodia as a weight loss remedy. However, I will tell you what my knowledge is versus my opinion.

Like most herbal supplements, there is nothing really new about Hoodia. It might be recently marketed as a weight loss remedy, but it has been around for a long time. Hoodia (Hoodia gordonii cactus) comes from a cactus from the Kalahari Desert. It was first used by Kalahari Bushmen to decrease hunger as they traveled long distances by foot and experienced famine.

The funny thing is, it has been advertised as the "weight loss secret" of the Kalahari Bushmen. However, it is very doubtful that any Kalahari tribes or people ever suffered from obesity or even came close to it.

The supplement makers get their "proof" from a study done on rats. The study required the lab rats to have a substance known as P57 (found in Hoodia) to be directly injected into their brains. Sure enough, the rats didn't eat as much and they lost weight.

As of now, no studies have been done on humans. Therefore, the effectiveness and efficacy of Hoodia is still unknown. I guess they had a problem finding participants to get brain injections. Furthermore, the supplements you get on the shelf containing Hoodia is believed to be ineffective as it does not have high enough concentrations of P57 to begin with.

Pfizer, the well known pharmaceutical company, had at one time invested into a program to develop a drug containing P57. Apparently, even they didn't feel that the investment was worthy as they dropped the program. Therefore, you have to leave it to the unscrupulous money-makers of the supplement industry to advertise something new in order to get continued profits.