What you need to know about Hoodia Gordonii
Hoodia Gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) which called hoodia, xhooba,! khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus.
Hoodia is a cactus that's creating a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote slimming. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all stopped stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form throughout the health food stores and online. Hoodia gordonii can consist of the semi-deserts of Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps a part of green upright stems and is actually a succulent, not a succulent. It takes about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and also the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 kinds of hoodia, only the hoodia variety is believed to allow for the natural appetite suppressant.
Although hoodia was "discovered" fairly recently, the San Bushmen in the Kalahari desert have were eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it up on ward off hunger actually thirst during nomadic gift buying trips. They also positioned hoodia for severe intestinal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.
In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist exploring the San Bushmen noted how they used hoodia to keep back appetite. But it wasn't save for 1963 when scientists in the Council for Scientific and at Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising -- lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia gordonii.
The South African scientists, working having a British company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57. After creating a patent in 1995, they licensed p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million on hoodia gordonii research.
Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers a part of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and became interested in developing a hoodia drug. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to develop p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer recently returned the rights this is for hoodia to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever.
What you need to know about hoodia
Hoodia Appears To Suppress Appetite
Much from the buzz about hoodia blossomed after 60 minutes writer Leslie Stahl and crew went to Africa to try hoodia. They hired a local Bushman to compliment them into the desert and identify some hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it like "cucumbery in texture, but not bad. " She lost the need to eat or drink a whole day. She also didn't experience any immediate side effects, such as indigestion or heart palpitations. Stahl concluded, "I'd have to say it did obligations. "
In animal studies, hoodia is recognized as to reduce caloric conservation by 30 to 50 have in common. There is one human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories every day. However, I haven't been able to find either study to actually read for myself and am going roughly secondhand reports.
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