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By Monica Bryant


It's also about making sure that the weight loss product is approved and tested. When it comes to taking Hoodia Gordonii, you, therefore, have to make sure you're getting the real thing. Getting otherwise isn't just a waste of your money but could also be potentially dangerous.

The San tribe of the Kalahari have long understood the properties of Hoodia Gordonii where the internal stem is chewed to fend off hunger during their prolonged hunting trips. The active ingredient in Hoodia Gordonii is a molecule known as P57 was patented in 1996 and became the focus of study by the South African CSIR. (Council for Scientific and Industrial Affairs).

P57 tricks the brain into believing that our glucose, (blood sugar), levels are high indicating that we must be full. The giant pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer worked together with a UK company, PhytoPharm, to try and produce an appetite suppressing compound from the active ingredients in Hoodia Gordonii. Research was stopped during 2002 due to difficulties in removing chemicals found in P57 that are harmful to our liver. For this reason the drug would not be approved by the US FDA.

There are no scientific studies or trials that have conclusively shown that Hoodia Gordonii works as an appetite suppressor or is effective in producing weight loss. One study took seven overweight patients who managed to shed an average of 3.3% of their bodyweight during the trial. Lack of scientific evidence has not stopped dietary supplement companies from marketing their products as containing Hoodia Gordonii. Trimspa stated that their Hoodia Gordonii weight loss products will not only suppress appetite but also lowers blood pressure. The FDA has advised that these claims are not supported by any scientific evidence. The Trimspa brand is the subject of a lawsuit in California over claims that the brand does not actually contain any Hoodia Gordonii ingredients.

One of the preeminent herbal testing facilities in the U.S., the Alchemist Pharmaceuticals, was contacted in order to help verify the presence of real Hoodia. Analysis showed that there are several ways to detect a fake Hoodia Gordonii.

A quote during the whole debacle was from PhytoPharm's CEO who said "I honestly believed that these Bushmen had died out and am sorry to hear that they feel hard done by.". This was the start of a lawsuit by the San for compensation from the giant pharmaceuticals.

The San put forward a statement through a prominent lawyer they had engaged that they were not averse to assisting the Western World in developing medical treatments using their knowledge but they were not going to be the product of "Bio Piracy" for the sake of weight loss products and sit back and do nothing.

Fake Hoodia products may also have additional information on additives, fillers and other agents, which are actually insignificant for authenticated products, which label 100% hoodia. Also, keep off products that claim that they have additional amounts of Hoodia more than the original. These may seem appealing but entirely dangerous because it may have more diluted fillers that can make a normal person sick. The fact is that normal people can only carry 80 mgs of hoodia material at a time.




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