What Is It About Hoodia?

In the South African desert is found a small cactus plant that has been long known by Aboriginal Bushmen to have appetite suppressing qualities. This little plant, known locally as xhoba, contains an active ingredient scientists have dubbed p57.  Scientific evaluations of p57 suggest that it has the ability to help trim down daily caloric intake by as much as 1,000 calories. 

But, don't get too excited. You can forget about taking a trip down to the local flower shop and ordering a hoodia gordonii plant. The South African government has placed the desert cactus under strict control. Growth and production of the prized hoodia gordonii cactus is limited only to those producers who have been certified by the South African government.

It was the Council for Scientific and Industrial research that first identified the p57 molecule that makes hoodia gordonii such a sought after weight loss tool. Ownership rights to p57 were initially granted to pharmaceutical giant Phytopharm, who then leased production rights to Pfizer. When Pfizer found that isolation p57 and production of a pill product would be too costly, the rights taken over by the Unilever Corporation, producer of the well known line of Slim Fast of weight loss products.

Hoodia became almost an overnight sensation thanks a story done by CBS' 60 Minutes program. After that exposure, people who felt like they needed that little extra help with their weight loss program began scouring for hoodia based products. Fortunately, supplement producers were in the right place to get their product into the stores just in time to meet the surging demand.