The Hoodia Gordonii plant that has been known for ages to African bushmen as an appetite suppressant.It seems that the bushmen were the only people who knew about it. Members of the San tribe have been using the plant for thousands of years to suppress appetite during long hunting trips in the burning heat of the Kalahari Desert.

The plant is a succulent cactus that grows in the Kalahari. It took 30 years for African researchers to isolate the active ingredient of the plant. In 1997, South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research signed over the commercial rights of the drug to British firm Phytopharm Plc. In 1998, Pfizer Inc obtained the license of the patented drug P 57.

After tests and research, in early 2004, supplements containing Hoodia Gordonii were introduced on the U.S. market. The new ingredient seems the most promising diet product on the market so far. It has already gained huge popularity. The resulting products seem the safest diet pill choice. They are natural and appear not to have any harmful side effects.

Action

It has dramatic effects on the appetite, as it acts on the cells that sense glucose sugar in the hypothalamus, part of the interbrain. The P57 molecule in Hoodia Gordonii is 10,000 times as active as glucose, thus giving the brain the sensation of fullness.

Other effects

• delay in the reappearance of hunger after eating
• reduced interest in food
• a feeling of general well-being

The compound suppresses both hunger and thirst. This aspect seems to be the only alarming side effect known so far.