From Cathy Wong, N.D.,Your Guide to Alternative Medicine.

What you need to know about hoodia gordonii

by Cathy Wong, ND

Hoodia basics

Hoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is also called hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus

Hoodia is a cactus that's causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia is also found in the popular diet pill Trimspa.

Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is actually a succulent, not a cactus. It takes about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.

Although hoodia was "discovered" relatively recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been 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 to ward 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 more than $20 million on hoodia research.

Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers 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 to hoodia to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever.

How does hoodia work?

There isn't much published research on hoodia. Researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island recently found that the steroidal glycosides in hoodia affects nerve cells in the hypothalamus that monitor blood glucose. Simply put, the brain is tricked into thinking there is enough energy (blood sugar) and doesn't need to eat, so it shuts down the hunger mechanism.

What you need to know about hoodia

Hoodia appears to suppress appetite
Much of the buzz about hoodia started after 60 minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew traveled to Africa to try hoodia. They hired a local Bushman to go with them into the desert and track down some hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it as "cucumbery in texture, but not bad." She lost the desire to eat or drink the entire 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 work."

In animal studies, hoodia is believed to reduce caloric intake by 30 to 50 percent. There is one human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories per day. However, I haven't been able to find either study to actually read for myself and am going on secondhand reports.

Most hoodia information on the Internet is unreliable
After looking at hoodia buyer's guides, hoodia ratings, and hoodia comparisons on the Internet, my advice is that you be very cautious. Most of these sites have been secretly created by companies trying to sell you hoodia. They explain why the hoodia in other products is inferior, even though there are no published reports showing that one is more effective.

Hoodia is expensive
There has always been a demand for quick-fix, no-pain weight loss pills. After the ban on the herb ephedra, the market was particularly ripe for the next new weight loss solution, preferably one that didn't have the same stimulating side effects as ephedra. The demand for hoodia is great, but the supply isn't. Until very recently, hoodia gordonii was only found in the wild in South Africa. Hoodia is difficult to grow. It requires 4-5 years to mature and temperatures in the range of 122F. The supply is scarce, which keeps costs high.

The correct dose of hoodia is individual
Supplement companies put a standard recommended dose on the bottle, but people often need far less or more than that amount. Some people who've used hoodia say they need at least 1,200 milligrams per day to notice a difference. But it depends on a person's weight, diet, lifestyle, and metabolism.

What you need to know about hoodia gordonii

How long does hoodia takes to work?
The consensus is that hoodia can take up to 1 to 2 weeks to kick in, however, many people notice the appetite suppressing effects within 1/2 hour of taking a dose of hoodia.

How to take hoodia

• An hour before meals
  
• With a glass of water. Ensure adequate water intake, because hoodia will also shut off your thirst mechanism.

Side efffects of hoodia are still unknown
I'm not aware of any published reports of side effects after short-term use of hoodia.

There are no published long-term studies on the safety of hoodia. Just because it has been used for thousands of years doesn't mean it is safe. The San Bushmen are a tribe of hunter-gatherers. They do not take pills for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, depression, and other diseases, like we do. Hoodia simply hasn't reached a wide enough market yet or undergone safety testing to know what the side effects, drug interactions, and safety concerns are, if any.

People with diabetes should be particularly cautious. Because hoodia tricks the brain into thinking that it has enough blood sugar, it's possible that a person's blood sugar could drop dangerously low while taking hoodia. With the regular hunger mechanism turned off, the normal warning signs may be suppressed -- until it's too late.

There are no studies evaluating the use hoodia during pregnancy, lactation, in children, and by people with chronic conditions such as heart, kidney, or liver disease.

What to look for in a hoodia product

Based on what I have read of hoodia, here's what I suggest:

1. Select an established company that sells a range of products, not just hoodia. The company website should have:
   • information about the company, such as the company history, management, and other basic facts
     
   • a physical address of the company
     
   • independent testing of their products for purity, contaminants, etc.
     
   • a customer service phone number, not just an email address
   
   I've read on the low carbers forum about people ordering products online from hoodia websites and waiting weeks, even months for their hoodia to arrive. Some don't receive responses when they email the company and they have no phone number to call. You're better off buying from a local health food store OR from an established online vendor. Some health food stores, like Whole Foods Market, have pulled hoodia from the shelves at some of their locations because of concerns about the quality of hoodia products.
   
   
2. Learn the differences in strength and potency claims. If you've looked online for hoodia, you've probably seen it all: 100% pure hoodia, 20:1 hoodia extract, hoodia concentrate. Knowing the 3 ways of making hoodia willl help you understand the various claims:
   
   a) Making a powder out of the whole hoodia plant -- these are the products that say their hoodia product is "100% pure". The whole hoodia plant is ground into a powder. They claim that Bushmen ate the whole hoodia plant, and argue it's therefore the most effective way. However, Bushmen actually peel away the hoodia skin and discard it, they don't actually eat the entire hoodia plant. This is the cheapest type of hoodia to manufacture.
   
   b) Using alcohol to concentrate it -- these are the 20:1 or 10:1 extracts. The idea here is that there is other stuff in hoodia, like the fiber and skin, that just takes up room in the capsule. So the hoodia plant is placed in alcohol, which "pulls out" the active ingredients into the alcohol. This mixture is then strained to remove the fiber and skins. The alcohol is removed, leaving the hoodia powder.
   
   20:1 means that 1 g of this extract was made by using 20 g of the whole plant. It's considered more potent than the powdered whole plant (type a). Source Naturals and Flora are two established companies that use a 20:1 extract. Paradise Herbs uses a 10:1 extract for their hoodia, meaning that 10 g of the whole plant were used to make 1 g of their extract.
   
   c) Using a method to specially extract the p57 molecule -- only Phytopharm and its partners can do this because of the p57 patent. People often ask, "if the p57 molecule is patented, why are there so many hoodia products sold on the market?"
   
   Phillip Jones, in his "Overview of United States Patent Law", says "…a naturally occurring molecule cannot be patented even if the patent applicant was the first to discover the existence of the molecule. On the other hand, a purified, isolated or altered form of a naturally occurring molecule may be patentable."
   
   Because p57 naturally occurs in the hoodia plant, there is presumably some of it in the other two ways of making hoodia (type a and b). But according to Jones' description, only Phytopharm and its partners can use methods to specifically extract p57 from hoodia or make hoodia pills.
   
   References
   Jones, Phillip. Overview of United States Patent Law
   www2.ari.net/foley/patentov.html