Hoodia Gordonii in Best Weight Loss Supplements
With the obesity rate rising daily among adults, there are many weight loss products that have hit the market. More than 30% of Americans are obese, and that number is considered very conservative, which is why so many Americans are  looking towards various sources to help them lose the weight.
One of the most popular weight loss supplements is Hoodia Gordonii also known as xhooba, khoba, Ghaap and hoodia cactus. This is far from a new “miracle” drug, but it has just recently hit the market to be sold as a weight loss drug.
The History of Hoodia Gordonii
A few years ago Hoodia Gordonii was featured on many popular television news shows such as 20/20, The Today Show, and Oprah. This has led to an influx of Hoodia products, although unfortunately most of them are fake products claiming to be 100% Hoodia, when so often they are not. Before we delve into how to spot a real Hoodia product from a fake Hoodia product, first you need to know where it came from.
The Hoodia plant has been around for thousands of years. The South African Bushmen, also known as the Sans tribe, had the plant basically in their backyard of the Kalahari Desert. They used to go hunting for long periods of time and when they were hunting they would eat the Hoodia plant because it helped to keep away hunger so that they could hunt for longer. This plant used to give them energy to continue on while helping them to avoid thirst and hunger.
It wasn’t until the 1960’s that scientists discovered the plant for themselves. They were actually sent to the desert looking for indigenous food when they found the plant. They quickly found out after studying it that there was a molecule called P57 which was thought to help with weight loss. That shocked them because they were looking for toxic effects of the plant, but instead found benefits of the plant.
Scientific Research About Hoodia as Appetite Suppressant
It took a long time and a lot of research, almost $20 million dollars worth, when plant was bought by Phytopham, a pharmaceutical company. In 2001 Phytopham patented the incredible molecule which was then isolated from the plant. The research that Phytopham did quickly proved that when the molecule was isolated people would lose weight when they took it. The plant mimics the natural glucose but at a much higher strength, so that it signals to your body and to your brain that you are full, even if you haven’t eaten that much of it.
Pfizer also wanted to get into the action, however when experiments with Hoodia proved too expensive, they backed out which allowed Unilever to make a deal to produce Hoodia starting in 2008. Until then there are some real Hoodia products out there, but not nearly as many as you think.
It started when the show on 60 minutes had an episode which talked about the product. Quickly thereafter many Hoodia products hit the shelves. Most of them were false claims that they were made of 100% Hoodia. There is only a few 100% Hoodia products, and the ones that are very expensive since the plant is very expensive to transfer from the desert to other countries.
How to Make Sure you Get the Real Hoodia Gordonii
To make sure you have the real product you can look for a CITES certificate (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) which is the group that certifies that the Hoodia you are taking is real. If it doesn’t have this certificate then chances are that it is not. Also look for the ingredients to read 100% Hoodia. Anything less is not real Hoodia and usually made with fillers and additives. You can find them if you do enough research, so make sure you look at each product before you buy it.
Still not sure where to start? Check out our reviews through the link below.
Check out the Best Hoodia Gordonii Pills Reviewed |
