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What you would like to understand about hoodia gordoniiHoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is additionally called hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus.
Hoodia may be a cactus that's causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. hour , ABC, and therefore the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in food stores and on the web . Hoodia gordonii are often found within the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is really a succulent, not a cactus. It takes about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and therefore the cactus are often harvested. Although there are 20 sorts of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural suppressant .
Although hoodia was "discovered" relatively recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari are eating it for a really while . The Bushmen, who live off the land, would stop a part of the hoodia stem and eat it to keep off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.
In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn't until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising -- lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia.
The South African scientists, working with a British company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57. After getting a patent in 1995, they licensed p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent quite $20 million on hoodia research.
Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and have become curious about developing a hoodia drug. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to develop p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer recently returned the rights to hoodia to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever.
What you would like to understand about hoodiaHoodia appears to suppress appetiteMuch of the excitement about hoodia started after hour correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew traveled to Africa to undertake hoodia. They hired an area Bushman to travel with them into the desert and hunt some hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it as "cucumbery in texture, but great ." She lost the will to eat or drink the whole day. She also didn't experience any immediate side effects, like indigestion or heart palpitations. Stahl concluded, "I'd need to say it did work."
In animal studies, hoodia is believed to scale back caloric intake by 30 to 50 percent. there's one human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories per day. However, i have never been ready to find either study to truly read for myself and am happening secondhand reports.
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