Hoodia Gordonii is a leafless, spiky, succulent plant, sometimes mistaken for a cactus plant. This plant grows naturally in a southern region of South Africa.
The legend goes as follows, when a South African tribe called the San tribe was starving but had no food or the hunting was lacking, they would chew on a natural plant called Hoodia Gordonii. After a few mouthfuls of this bitter-sweet tasting succulent plant miraculously the members’ of the tribe hunger pangs were sustained. After this discovery of this all natural Hoodia plant on the eastern hemisphere it has evolved to the western hemisphere, as well as, through an enormous amount of clinical testing.
Presently, the Hoodia plant is still growing in abundance in South Africa, where it is registered as a protected species by Nature Conservation. Consequently, since the San tribe was the first to make this amazing discovery of the knowledge about the Hoodia plant, they felt that they were entitled to ownership of this knowledge. The San tribe realizing that this worldwide discovery had the potential to eventually make an enormous profit from the multinational sales of the Hoodia. As a result, the San tribe realized that they were entitled to their piece of the pie. The San tribe decided to argue their rights to ownership of the knowledge of its medicinal uses, considering they were the first to find the Hoodia plant. After a court case the San tribe ensured themselves to receive a percentage of profit from all sales of Hoodia.
Of course, everybody wanted a part of the Hoodia Gordonii, this phenomenal discovery was about to blossom into something gigantic. As a result, the well known pharmaceutical giant Pfizer got involved. Another large pharmaceutical company who played a role was Phytopharm. Phytopharm is a UK based pharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the research development of pharmaceutical and functional food products using natural plant extracts.
In the year 1997 Pfizer patented the P57 molecule, P57 is the hunger-suppressing chemical component in Hoodia Gordonii. After research and studies it has been proven that the P57 molecule found in Hoodia Gordonii has the identical effect as the effect of glucose on the nerve cells in the brain. As a result, the P57 molecule fools the body into thinking it is full which eliminates the appetite completely. Due to this magnificent discovery western countries have claimed that Hoodia Gordonii is the new miracle diet ingredient that will help against the difficult war against obesity. There is strong evidence from research, studies, and experiments that give no doubt that Hoodia Gordonii is the sure answer to all the overweight problems that face obese people. A prime example is the study that was conducted in England, which proved that over a 15 day time period of taking Hoodia Gordonii the results concluded that the persons’ food intake was dramatically reduced by 1000 calories a day.
There has always been a desire for the quick fix against the battle against obesity, especially in the cynical society that we live in today. After the ban on the herb ephedra, due to ephedra use raising blood pressure. Also, additional studies confirming that ephedra stresses the circulatory system. Ephedra was banned because of significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Thus, the market was high in demand for the next new weight-loss phenomenon. Well the search is over, the new phenomenon is here, and Hoodia Gordonii does not have the highly stimulating side effects that ephedra had. As a matter of fact, Hoodia Goronii has been used for thousand of years by shepherds and hunters of the nomadic San tribes that populate across the desert territories of South Africa, and they claim no negative side effects. Furthermore, after scientific research there are no negative side effects found, but instead many people experience a great uplifting in their mood immediately, followed by a completely suppressed appetite.
Due to the growing popularity of Hoodia Gordonii, the demand is great. Furthermore, because of the rigorous requirements and the long harvesting process the Hoodia Gordonii does have some limitations. Until recently, the Hoodia plant was only found in the wild desert regions of South Africa. The Hoodia plant is not easily grown, it requires at least 5 to 6 years of growth in order to fully mature. It also needs a desert like climate which range in the temperatures of 118 to122 Fahrenheit. Once the Hoodia plant is fully mature it looks somewhat like a cactus plant, but the Hoodia plant has flowers that blossom and smell rancid. The gruesome smell from these flowers attracts insects such as flies and blowflies which play a role in the fertilization cycle of the Hoodia plant. The Hoodia plant has been a part of the human evolution for years, but until recently the Hoodia plant has not been publicized to the human society, well the time has come.
