Brokaw
What you need to know about hoodia gordoniiHoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is also referred to as hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus. Hoodia is a cactus that is causing a stir for its capability 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 gordonii can be discovered in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is in fact a succulent, not a cactus. It takes about 5 years just before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 kinds of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii selection is believed to contain the organic appetite suppressant. Even though hoodia was "discovered" relatively lately, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been consuming it for a really long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and consume it to ward off hunger and thirst in the course of nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for serious 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 Investigation (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial outcomes had been promising -- lab animals lost weight immediately after taking hoodia. The South African scientists, operating with a British company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57. After finding a patent in 1995, they licensed p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent much more than $20 million on hoodia analysis. Ultimately pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and became interested in producing a hoodia drug. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to create p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer lately returned the rights to hoodia to Phytopharm, who is now operating with Unilever. wholesale hoodia mist What you want to know about hoodiaHoodia appears to suppress appetiteMuch of the buzz about hoodia started following 60 minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew traveled to Africa to try hoodia. They hired a regional Bushman to go with them into the desert and track down some hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it as "cucumbery in texture, but not negative." She lost the want to eat or drink the entire day. She also didn't expertise any immediate side effects, such as indigestion or heart palpitations. Stahl concluded, "I'd have to say it did operate." In animal studies, hoodia is believed to reduce caloric intake by 30 to 50 percent. There is one particular human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories per day. Nevertheless, I have not been able to locate either study to actually read for myself and am going on secondhand reports. For a lot more details go to:
