Since the discovery of hoodia gordonii, a succulent plant that grows in the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, most companies manufacturing diet medication have gone into overdrive to profit from its benefits. The San tribes of the Kalahari have eaten hoodia gordonii for centuries to suppress hunger when their food stocks were low and they needed to go on long hunting expeditions. The South African government along with British pharmaceutical giant Phytopharm, researched hoodia gordonii for years until they isolated its active ingredient, a molecule they named P57, which was responsible for suppressing appetite. The South African government patented P57, and granted a license to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has already benefited by selling rights to Pfizer, another pharmaceutical giant for $13 million.
Phytopharm themselves have plantations in secret locations in Southern Africa where they are cultivating hoodia gordonii on a huge scale. This plant is very difficult to cultivate, and if Phytopharm are successful, they will earn 5% of the profits on all sales of hoodia gordonii medications. Unilever (also a partner of Phytopharm), are planning to incorporate P57 into their “SlimFast” products. “SlimFast” already earns Unilever over $1.3 billion annually – you can imagine what the addition of P57 to their diet products will do to the profits for the company! Hoodia gordonii has all the makings of turning into a multi-billion dollar industry and expert opinion has it that hoodia gordonii may well outsell Viagra, today’s most popular pill.
Unfortunately, a goldmine like this attracts every fast-buck artist in the country and that is exactly what is now happening with hoodia gordonii. There are all kinds of hoodia products available, so you do need to be discriminating when you first decide that you want to try hoodia gordonii – you have to make sure it’s pure hoodia.
Firstly – Beware of products that use the entire hoodia gordonii plant. Only the inner flesh, the core of the hoodia gordonii contains P57. The outer thick skin, roots, leaves and stems have no P57, and so no effect on appetite. Therefore, a product using the entire plant is only going to be 60% effective. The supplement you use must contain 100% of the core of the pure hoodia gordonii.
Secondly – Beware of products selling just “hoodia”. There are many varieties of hoodia growing all over Africa; unfortunately, none of them has any effect on appetite. Only pure hoodia gordonii contains P57, the molecule that suppresses appetite, so whichever company you buy from, the supplement must contain “hoodia gordonii”.
Thirdly – Since hoodia gordonii + other herbs have not been researched yet, it is safest to use capsules containing 100% pure hoodia gordonii core in a gelatin capsule.
Fourthly – Make sure the product you use is certified. It must have a current CITES certificate, a Certificate of Authenticity and it must have been tested by a reputable laboratory, like Alkemist Pharmaceuticals.