NBC NEWS STORY -->
Prickly Bush from Kalahari Desert Key to Weight-Loss
Could a plant from South Africa be the weight-loss secret that could help millions of overweight Americans slim down? NBC News correspondent Janet Shamlian talks about the possible magic pill we've all been waiting for.
It's the look everyone wants — a body to diet for. They're on the beaches, in magazines and all over Hollywood. How far will we go to get one? How about thousands of miles and deep into a distant culture? South Africa’s Kalahari Desert is home to what could be the answer to an appetite.
It's a cactus called hoodia. “You strip off the skin, you strip off the spines, and then you consume it,” says weight loss expert Madelyn Fernstrom.
Eat it and you won't want to eat anything else — a secret bushmen have known for ages and a mystery to the West no more.
“Hoodia's actually one of our top selling diet products,” says Anthony Paulmeno of General Nutrition Center.
Nutrition stores are packed with products. But this isn't the fresh plant said to work wonders. It's the dried, powdered and — some say — less effective version.
One of the issues for dieters is that there are so many products with the label hoodia on them, it's hard to know the difference between them, or if they work at all.
“Today” show staffer Jayme Anker is giving it a shot and hoping it suppresses her appetite.
“I am obsessed with it,” says Anker.
Having endured weight loss camp as a child, at 26 she's still waging the war and hoping hoodia will be the weapon that works. “What’s the worst that's going to happen to me?” she says.
It’s an important question. Store brands are not inspected or regulated, and their exact contents are unknown.
Texan Walter Parks bought his bottle on the Internet. “I would say yes, that it is the magic bullet plant,” Parks say. But there are no human studies to prove that.
Fernstrom says, “It's important to say this does need more [research].”
But dieters are hopeful a hunger-busting plant will deliver one of those glorious, how-did-they-get-it bodies that are seemingly everywhere — except in the mirror.
Weight Loss FAQ
Is the Hoodia gordonii diet pill safe?
All the hoodia gordonii diet pills featured on my site will only contain natural and organic ingredients, they will contain NO stimulants such as caffeine and ephedra and many of the Hoodia gordonii diet pill will be suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Hoodia has been classified as a food rather than a drug in South Africa, which show just how safe hoodia really is.
How does the Hoodia gordonii diet pill work?
The Hoodia gordonii plant contains an active ingredient that fools your brain into believing that you have had enough to eat. All you need to do is take your pill 20-30 minutes before your meal. Everyone is different and the effects of the Hoodia diet pill may take up to 14 days to work.
Pfizer, who developed Viagra, has invested approximately $21 million for the right to develop the active ingredient, P57 which mimics the effects that glucose (ten thousand times as active as glucose) has on the brain. This mimicking effect of the active ingredient in Hoodia is what fools the brain into believing that it is full and no more food is required.
How fast will I lose weight with the Hoodia Diet Pill?
Studies done in Leicester, England have shown that people using the Hoodia gordonii diet pill reduce their calorie intake by up to 1000 calories a day and when you put that into pounds lost it may equate up to 4-6 pounds a week.
Are you sure the Hoodia in your diet pill is pure?
Hoodia gordonii is one of many species in the Hoodia genus and it takes a trained botanist or San collector to be able to distinguish species without looking at the flower. Without the flower Hoodia gordonii is difficult to distinguish from other species and unscrupulous collectors will not wait for their flowering period.
Hoodia gordonii is a CITES (Convention of Illicit Trade of Endangered Species) protected succulent which means that the collecting of Hoodia in the wild is illegal without a permit (which is very difficult to obtain from the South African government).
The Hoodia gordonii in the approved diet pills on this site will carry their CITES export permit from and have proof that the raw Hoodia is indeed from a government approved Hoodia grower in South Africa.
How was the Hoodia cactus secret discovered?
The active ingredient, P57, was not discovered by accident. In 1996 the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) was doing research on the food that the local "Bushmen" or San ate.
The CSIR was amazed when they analyzed Hoodia gordonii, the animals they where testing it on did not die or have any side effect except weight loss. It was concluded that the Hoodia gordonii succulent was non-toxic and a natural appetite suppressant. By 1997 the CSIR had isolated the bioactive compound in Hoodia that had the appetite suppressing properties. They obtained a patent and licensed P57, named P57 because it was the 57th product the CSIR had spent funds on, to Phytopharm.
Weight Loss Secret
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