First things first, hoodia gordonii is known in different names such as xhooba, Ghaap, khoba and hoodia cactus. Basically, hoodia godonii is a kind of cactus that is able to control and suppress one's appetite and therefore promote immediate weight loss.
Believe it or not, television programs such as ABC, 60 Minutes and BBC have focused on hoodia in their news stories.
The hoodia gordonii is ordinarily sold as capsules, tea or in liquid form in those food health stores as well as thru the internet.
The hoodia gordonii plant is found in the deserts of Botswana, South Africa, Namibia as well as Angola.
Contrary to popular belief, hoodia is not a cactus but a kind of succulent.
Hoodia is composed of a flower that is coloured purple and could be harvested after five years. Though the hoodia plant consists of twenty types, the miscellany of hoodia gordonii is the one that possess the ability to suppress appetite.
The history of hoodia as a weight loss product
Hoodia was just described only recently as an effective product to aid in one's weight loss. However, the Kalahari Bushmen have been eating it for centuries as a way to avert hunger as well as thirst to enable them to go on prolonged hunting adventures.
Hoodia was also used through them to alleviate any pain caused through tuberculosis, cramps, indigestion, haemorrhoids, diabetes and hypertension.
It was in the year 1937 when an anthropologist in Denmark studied the Bushmen and noted the effectiveness of hoodia.
However, it was only in the year 1963 when the scientists at CSIR or the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research actually began to study hoodia. The initial results were promising as animals were shown to have lost crucial weight just after ingesting hoodia.
It was only in the mid nineties when the scientists at South Africa worked with a company in Britain called Phytopharm and was able to isolate the ingredient active in the hoodia plant called steroidal glycoside.
This ingredient was renamed p57 and in the year 1995, it was officially licensed to the Phytopharm Company. So far, Phytopharm has been able to spend twenty million on research.
Another pharmaceutical company, specifically Pfizer, became interested in hoodia and decided to develop it as a drug.
It was in the year 1998 that Phytopharm licensed Pfizer the developing rights on the p57 ingredient for a whooping twenty one million dollars.
Currently however, the rights have long been returned to Phytopharm and are now collaborating with Unilever.
Basically, hoodia gordonii is effective and has been proven to clinically reduce one's intake of calories as well as fat.
Hoodia's inner workings
Based on a research done at Rhode Island in Brown University, it was described that the glycosides steroidal found in hoodia is able to affect the brain's nerve cells, specifically the hypothalamus, the area that is able to monitor one's blood glucose.
What hoodia performs is that it is able to trick the brain to think that the torso has energy enough to not have to eat, eventually shutting down the mechanism of hunger in the body.
This effect was proven by a correspondent of 60 Minutes wherein she travelled all the way to the country of Africa in order to try to ingest hoodia.
When the correspondent ate hoodia, she found the taste similar to cucumber and lost the craving to drink and eat the whole day. She also felt no side effects like palpitations or indigestion.
In studies conducted on animals, hoodia was able to actually reduce one's uptake of calories anywhere between thirty to fifty percent.
Hoodia info online
Unfortunately, there is much hype whenever is comes to reading about hoodia online. False claims, inferior wares and over priced knock offs are rampant.
When you visit a hoodia site look for one whose product is 100% pure hoodia gordonii, has certification on its purity well documented and posted, and always contains a money backward warrantee. This way you know that what you purchase is actually exactly what you will get.
All in all, hoodia is difficult to plant and grow as it takes almost five years for the plant to actually mature in needed temperatures of 122F.
This makes the plant supply scarce and because there is high demand, the hoodia price is also high. Don't purchase your hoodia through just comparing prices, you must compare ingredients.
If the site that you are looking at shows proof of purity and authenticity, discloses it is full ingredient listing and offers a full money backward warrantee you can be more confidant in your buy and that the info on the site is factual.
Author Resource:
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor
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