Does Hoodia Gordonii Aid in Weight Loss and Appetite Suppression?

The hoodia cactus has been traditionally used by the San people in Africa to suppress appetite while on hunting trips. In recent years hoodia gordonii has become a popular dietary supplement in the West. This popularity has led to this plant becoming an endangered species. Hoodia advertisements on the Internet are ubiquitous, many in the form of pop-ups that claim to melt away fat within days. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that Hoodia is one of the most popular over-the-counter diet pills today. With this type of glitzy advertising, one might consider the product worth a try. Let’s check what is really true and whether scientific research really supports these claims.

What is Hoodia?

Hoodia is an ingredient you will naturally find in a cactus-like plant, Hoodia Gordonii, which grows in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.

Related Terms

What are the Supposed Benefits of Taking Hoodia Gordonii?

Media and marketing claims are as follows:

A Brief History of Hoodia

A Dutch anthropologist who observed the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert first noted hoodia’s supposed appetite-suppressing qualities in the early 1900s. The anthropologist noted that these nomadic people ate the stem of the hoodia plant to control their hunger while on long hunting trips where there was little vegetation to eat. According to Jan Vander Westhuitzen, a South African Bushman tracker, a sip of hoodia’s bitter liquid gave people enough energy to walk all day.

A British pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, researched the ingredients in hoodia and isolated the appetite-suppressing aspect of the plant to a molecule referred to as P57. The scientists from Phytopharm believe that P57 acts on the appetite center of the brain, making it think the body is full. Phytopharm sublicensed rights to another pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, with intentions to use this extract from hoodia as a prescription weight-loss drug. Pfizer lost interest in pursuing P57 as a weight-loss drug after realizing that the molecule would be too difficult to synthesize and package in a pill.

What Does Scientific Research Say About Hoodia Gordonii?

Unfortunately, the legitimate scientific literature does not indicate if hoodia actually suppresses appetite and what kind of loss one can expect (if any).

There have not been any scientific studies on the effectiveness of hoodia or P57 alone to determine how much is needed and for how long to see a statistically significant weight loss.

Only one poorly designed study has shown any weight-loss benefit, and it involved doses many times greater than can be found in any commercially available product.

The Key Problem With Hoodia Gordonii Supplements

If the hoodia is so difficult to synthesize (as stated by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer), this raises the question of where the supplement companies get their hoodia, and more specifically, the part of the hoodia plant that contains P57. Harvesting the plant from the desert is one possibility. However, the popularity of hoodia has increased harvesting to the extent that the plant is now on the endangered species list. Some manufacturers indicate that they grow it on a farm, but how and where is not clear. Even Westhuitzen, the South African Bushman, said that hoodia is in trouble because the land where it grows has become too dry.

Because of the many species of Hoodia, it may be difficult to determine which species gives the best result. Second, when the manufacturer mixes more than one species it becomes difficult to determine which species is primary in the product being purchased.

The company called Unilever completed tests on 10 different supplement brands of hoodia and found that two contained no significant quantities of P57, four contained small amounts of it, and four others contained significant amounts!

Dosing

There is insufficient evidence to recommend a dose for hoodia. However, hoodia is popularly used for weight loss, and dried extracts (20:1) with a dosage ranging from 400-800 mg daily have been used.

Interactions With Drugs, Herbs, and Dietary Supplements

There is not enough available scientific evidence to report drug interactions. However, hoodia is popularly used for weight loss, and it may interact with other medications that are appetite suppressants.

There is not enough available scientific evidence to report herb and supplement interactions. However, hoodia is popularly used for weight loss, and it may interact with other appetite-suppressing herbs and supplements.

Safety & Side Effects of Taking Hoodia Supplements

In reality, not much is known. No one has yet examined the safety of hoodia in humans. Early research by Pfizer indicated that P57 is broken down in the liver. This concerns some doctors because many obese people suffer from liver disease. When a person becomes overweight, the liver usually cannot handle the fat levels in the body, and the fat becomes stored in the liver. As a result, the liver becomes enlarged and can become permanently scarred. An enlarged and scarred liver will not be able to function as well as a healthy liver.

Therefore, a user of hoodia would have to take his or her chances rather than rely on sound science.

Until the drug becomes regulated, users must take notice of their own side effects. Hoodia has been reported to cause many of the side effects associated with other appetite suppressants that act on the brain. These side effects include chest pain and migraines.

Replacement supplements

Recommended readings

• The most complete fat loss guide

Conclusion About Hoodia and Its Weight Loss Properties

Hoodia’s popularity is amazing in light of the fact that all success stories are purely anecdotal, meaning that people might talk about its effectiveness but there is no research to back up the claims. Again, there are no available reliable human trials demonstrating efficacy and safety. BBC news reports from 2003 suggested that some samples of hoodia products (hoodia supplements) sold on the Internet might show no evidence of containing actual hoodia.