Question: What is Hoodia gordonii?
Answer: Hoodia gordonii is a cactus-like plant belonging to a group of plants that are described as succulents. Hoodia belongs to a botanical family of plants called Asclepiadaceae. Hoodia grows in the Kalahari desert of South Africa. This plant has been used for thousands of years by the San bushmen of South Africa to control hunger and thirst during hunting expeditions in the Kalahari desert.

Question: Who are the San bushmen?
Answer: The San people are the aboriginal people of Southern Africa. Their distinct hunter-gatherer culture stretches back over 20,000 years, and their genetic origins reach back over one million years. Recent research indicates that the San are the oldest genetic stock of contemporary humanity. Ten thousand years ago their exclusive domain stretched from the Zambezi to the Cape of Good Hope, from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans. Three hundred years ago European colonists called them “untamable”. Now Southern Africa’s 110,000 remaining San face cultural extinction, living lives of poverty on the outer edges of society. Today they struggle to win back a foothold, along with their pride, in the lands they once roamed freely.

Question: What does Hoodia gordonii do?
Answer: Hoodia gordonii is presented as a powerful nutrional supplement for suppressing appetite, to be used with a calorie controlled diet and a healthy lifestyle, for healthy weight loss in individuals who are obese or overweight. This impressive plant contains special substances which act on the brain by sending a signal to tell the body that it is satisfied and does not need more food. Suggested usage for Hoodia is somewhat dependent upon body mass. A recommended dosage of 50-400 mg of pure Hoodia gordonii or a concentrate, one hour before meal times is a good general guideline. There are no reported, side effects from the usage of Hoodia, other than lack of hunger and weight loss.

Question: How does Hoodia work in the body?
Answer: The Hoodia gordonii succulent plant has been used for centuries by the Xhomani San bushmen of Southern Africa’s Kalahari desert, to suppress the appetite during long hunting trips. It works by making patients feel full after ingesting it, and it has been shown to lower food intake by up to 50% in small studies by pharmaceutical companies wishing to create a synthetic derivative from Hoodia (a drug). Although western scientists became aware of the plants potential about 75 years ago, it was only recently that the putative active ingredients of Hoodia have been patented by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Subsequently, a British biotechnology company, Phytopharm acquired the rights to the further development and commercialization of Hoodia components as an anti-obesity drug for use in the West. Now the San people, in the first deal of its kind, will be rewarded for the development of a drug which makes use of their traditional knowledge. Under the terms of the agreement, the San people will receive regular fees as the drug developed from a plant, used to suppress the appetite, passes various stages on the way to market.

Question: How did Hoodia become so popular so quickly?
Answer: The media has covered the startling effects of Hoodia on appetite and weight control over the past 18 months. Ranging from newspaper articles to TV shows, the interest in Hoodia has swept the US nation and countries in Western Europe. In one interview reported by ABC news, a spokesman for the San people who live in the Kalahari desert, Andries Steenkamp says, “ I learned how to eat it from my forefathers,” as he prepared a piece of the cactus-like plant called Hoodia by trimming off the prickly spikes.” It is my food, my water, and also a medicine for me”. “Hoodia stops hunger and also treats sickness” Steenkamp told ABC news. “We San, use the plant during hunting to fight off the pain of hunger and thirst.” There are no known side effects with Hoodia gordonii although it is said to possess a mild aphrodisiac effect. It contains no ephedra or caffeine or any other stimulants.

Other TV broadcasts on the shows “60 minutes” and “20/20” have fueled the popularity of Hoodia gordonii in early 2005. The first TV reporters’ experiences were recorded by the BBC. A BBC correspondent, Tom Mangold, described “the cactus test”. The following is an abstract of Tom Mangold’s report. “In order to see for ourselves, we drove into the desert, four hours north of Cape town in search of the cactus. Once there, we found an unattractive plant which sprouts about 10 tentacles, and is the size of a long cucumber. Each tentacle is covered in spikes which needs to be carefully peeled. Inside is a slightly unpleasant-tasting, fleshy plant. At about 18 00 hours, I ate about half a banana size-piece and later so did my cameraman. Soon after, we began the four hour drive back to Cape town. The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and I have to say, we felt good. But more significantly, we did not even think about food. Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception. Dinner time came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted, nor ate breakfast. I ate lunch but without appetite and very little pleasure. Partial, then full appetite returned slowly after 24 hours.”

Question: Are all Hoodia supplements of the same quality?
Answer: Hoodia plants are native to the semi-arid deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Even though there are about 20 species in the Hoodia family, the gordonii may be the principal one that contains natural appetite suppressants. This means that only Hoodia from South Africa can be expected to have potential appetite suppressant and weight control benefits. Dietary supplements containing cactus-like material from China or Mexico or the U.S. must be considered “fakes”. This “fake” material is being used in some dietary supplements sold, as “Hoodia”.

Question: Are all Hoodia supplements of the same quality?
Answer: Hoodia plants are native to the semi-arid deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Even though there are about 20 species in the Hoodia family, the gordonii may be the principal one that contains natural appetite suppressants. This means that only Hoodia from South Africa can be expected to have potential appetite suppressant and weight control benefits. Dietary supplements containing cactus-like material from China or Mexico or the U.S. must be considered “fakes”. This “fake” material is being used in some dietary supplements sold, as “Hoodia”.

Question: Is there scientific support for Hoodia’s effects on weight control?
Answer: When South African scientists were testing the Hoodia plant, they discovered the plant contained previously unknown molecules that cause a sensation of “fullness” (satiety). Results of human clinical trials in Britain suggest that this active ingredient could reduce the appetite and reduce dietary intake of calories by up to one to two thousand calories a day. Active ingredients in Hoodia work by replicating the effect glucose has on nerve cells in the brain (hypothalamus), fooling the body into thinking it is full, even when it is not. Hoodia appears to contain a molecule that is almost 10,000 times stronger than glucose, in its effects on brain to cause a feeling of “fullness “(satiety).

Early animal experiments in free-feeding rats have shown that the administration of Hoodia gordonii reduced the amount that they ate. Rats are greedy, with a voracious appetite, and they will eat almost anything. Altering the feeding habits of rats with Hoodia was a striking experimental finding. Reductions in food intakes in rats have been demonstrated repeatedly in experiments performed in South Africa, England and the United States.

Following the rat experiments, human clinical trials were performed in an obese group of people who were placed in a strictly enforced environment. These overweight people were left to eat as much as they liked, watch television, and read. Half of this group of obese individuals was given Hoodia gordonii and half were given a placebo (dummy pill). Fifteen days later, the group of subjects receiving Hoodia had significantly reduced their calorie intake. These experiments were a stunning success, because weight loss accompanied the loss of appetite and reduction of dietary calorie intake in these people.

Question: What is the reaction of the San people to the commercialization of Hoodia?
Answer: The San bushmen believe strongly that the effect of Hoodia on appetite is their discovery but they had to fight big business interests to be included in revenue sharing from the commercial success of Hoodia. The San people are now working with cultivators in South Africa and they are benefiting with jobs, given the popularity of this plant. “The San people, in the first deal of its kind, will be rewarded for the development of a drug which makes use of their traditional knowledge. Under the terms of this agreement, the San people will receive regular fees as the drug developed from a plant used to suppress the appetite passes various stages on the way to market. The San people hailed the agreement as a joyous moment. Mr Chennells, lawyer for the San people in negotiating the export of the Hoodia gordonii plant is ecstatic: The San will finally throw off thousands of years of oppression, poverty, social isolation and discrimination. We will create a trust fund with their Hoodia royalties and the children will join South Africa’s middle classes in our lifetime.”

Question: Are extracts of Hoodia used in dietary supplements?
Answer: No. At the time of writing, some dietary supplements have been mislabeled as containing extracts. There is some form of concentration used in processing the whole Hoodia plant in some cases, but standardized extracts are not readily available. The extraction process to obtain active steroidal glycoside molecules from Hoodia gordonii is a patented process, used only by scientists involved in drug development programs. Products that are labeled “pure Hoodia gordonii” are to be preferred. In simple terms, there is no such thing such as standardized extract of Hoodia in the dietary supplement industry and the preparation and sale of such extract would be illegal and a clear breach of patents held by business corporations, including but not limited to Phytopharm PLC of England. The food giant Unilever Inc. has stated that it has patent rights to use extracts in food products, after further research and development.

Question: How would one select the best Hoodia supplement?
Answer: Purchase Hoodia only from a company that will guarantee that the source of the whole plant is South Africa. Use Hoodia supplements that contain at least 200mg of Hoodia gordonii powder. Superior Hoodia supplements usually contain at least 400mg of whole Hoodia powder, preferably in vegetable capsules. Bulk suppliers of whole Hoodia plants are not routinely testing fro steroidal glycoside content. Selling a Hoodia supplement on the basis of its steroidal glycoside content would be considered patent infringement. The reality is that dietary supplements containing whole Hoodia powder are sold on the understanding that the whole plant is used in a somewhat similar manner to the way in which the San bushmen took the plant in their diet.

Question: Is Hoodia gordonii an endangered plant?
Answer: At the time of writing, there was some evidence that the demand for Hoodia had outstripped its supply. There are conventions governing international trade in any species of wild plants. Hoodia gordonii cultivation and export is being carefully regulated by the South African government and Hoodia has been listed in documents that form international agreements between governments to make sure that international trade in certain plants will not threaten their survival, overall. Companies importing Hoodia to the United States from South Africa must import Hoodia material with a South African government approved export permit.

Question: Will the supply of Hoodia for dietary supplements be sustainable?
Answer: Export permits must be purchased for all material containing Hoodia gordonii that leaves Africa. The South African government is now strictly controlling these permits. The money from the sale of these permits supports economic development initiatives for African tribes, including the San bushmen. Responsible suppliers of Hoodia in South Africa are in the process of negotiation transactions with the South African San Institute to develop nurseries that are operated by San bushmen and their families. These nurseries are being developed to supply seedlings that can be used to stock outlying farming projects. Legal considerations have led growers and their brokers to avoid much reference to the San bushmen in their commercial activity. There has been a preference to speak in terms of financial contributions to economic development projects for South African people, rather than to talk specifically about the San bushmen.

Question: Is there official evidence of the sustainability of Hoodia supply?
Answer: There are companies involved in cultivation of Hoodia gordonii, but there may only be a small number of these operations that carry legitimate permits to cultivate and harvest Hoodia gordonii. Responsible growers of Hoodia are investing in land and already planting new Hoodia seedlings. It is reported that for the remainder of the year 2005, the only supply of TraZic Hoodia will come from commercially propagated crops of Hoodia. It is stated among horticulturists that Hoodia needs about three years to mature, to be reliable in terms of its content of biologically active material.

Question: Are tests conducted on Hoodia raw material used in dietary supplements?
Answer: In brief, some material is tested, but most is not, upon information and belief. Hoodia gordonii supplied by agricultural operations in South Africa, that employ experts in “succulent horticulture” try to ensure that their stock of seedling is gathered from authentic sources in the Kalahari desert. These experts are charged with the responsibility of verifying that the Hoodia grown is of the gordonii variety. Therefore, material imported from Mexico or China cannot be taken seriously, as a source of bioactive Hoodia.

Responsible suppliers test material using an independent laboratory, and verify that the raw material contains the necessary components for the actions of Hoodia. These factors have been very important in deciding on the type of bulk material that I recommend for inclusion in dietary supplements. I can recommend Stella Labs, LLC of New Jersey as a bulk supplier of Hoodia gordonii and they have been used as a source of material found in the product Trazic Hoodia.

Question: Is Hoodia gordonii patented?
Answer: The “plant” Hoodia gordonii cannot be patented for any reason, in itself, or in its whole form. It has been known for many years that Hoodia gordonii has appetite and thirst -suppressing properties, as well as energizing and possible aphrodisiac effects. What is clearly patented are putative active constituents of Hoodia gordonii and related compounds that belong to a group of chemical called steroidal glycosides. Dietary supplements should not be sold with claims about steroidal glycoside content, per se. Growers of Hoodia gordonii in South Africa and the San bushmen have argued that “the whole plant” has not been patented. One major supplier of Hoodia reports that Hoodia gordonii is classified as a “natural food product” by the South African government.

In the U.S., dietary supplements are not food and they are not considered to be drugs. Dietary supplements are permitted to be used if there was evidence of their use in the food chain prior to 1994 when the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act was placed into legislation. There is no doubt that Hoodia gordonii was used in the South African food chain prior to 1994, but some have questioned whether or not Hoodia was used as a food prior to 1994, in the U.S.

It is difficult to pinpoint evidence of the use of Hoodia prior to 1994 in the U.S., but there may evidence that cactus-like or succulent plant material has been eaten in the United States for many years. Indeed, other types of cactus have found their way into dietary supplements in the United States.

The main issue is whether or not Hoodia gordonii is considered to be safe. The longstanding use of Hoodia in the food chain of South African native people, over as long as several centuries or more, seems to be a powerful precedent for the safety of Hoodia gordonii and some related species of Hoodia.

Question: Is Hoodia for everyone?
Answer: Absolutely not. Hoodia gordonii is best used in mature adults. It should be avoided in childhood, pregnancy and when a lactating female is breastfeeding. When anyone takes herbs or botanical supplements, there is always a risk of an allergic reaction, but I can find no reports of allergic reactions to Hoodia gordonii. However, the chances are occasional people may have or develop an allergy.

Although Hoodia has been described as a “miracle”, containing “miracle molecules”, it cannot be seen as a “magic bullet” for the global epidemic of obesity or overweight problems. The value of Hoodia appears to be its ability to suppress appetite in an almost “passive manner”. With the failure of many fad diets and many drugs or dietary supplements for weight control, scientists and the general public are realizing that weight loss efforts must go “back to basics”. The key issue in weight control is reduction of calorie intake, and this is what happens in many people when Hoodia is taken as a dietary supplement, or in medical research, where extracts of Hoodia gordonii have been given to both animals and humans in drug development experiments, with beneficial weight loss results.

Question: How did, or do, the San really use Hoodia gordonii?
Answer: The San bushmen find the idea of the use of Hoodia for weight loss to be a contrarian thought. The San bushmen were traditionally lean and supremely fit individuals who used Hoodia only to endure their terrible ordeal of desperate requirements for food. More recently, it is reported that San bushmen have embraced western lifestyle and indeed there are a number of native people in South Africa who have problems with obesity and the metabolic Syndrome X. It is reported that the San have been using Hoodia recently to overcome obesity problems, especially in their children. This is a major shift in the ethno-botanical use of Hoodia gordonii.

Question: What are the Key commercial questions about Hoodia gordonii?
Answer: Much discussion is occurring about the sustainability of supply of Hoodia gordonii, its quality control during growth and processing, its evidence of effectiveness, questions on how it should be regulated?, and what is its overall safety?. One must speculate in some areas of these important questions. The quality of bulk Hoodia material used in dietary supplements has emerged as extremely variable and some evidence exists that fake, cactus-like material may be used by some marketing predators who want to “cash in” on the “Hoodia bandwagon”.

The effectiveness of Hoodia supplements in assisting with weight control requires more research, before firm conclusions can be drawn. That said, there are many testimonials of effective weight control with the use of Hoodia. Many of these testimonials have involved the person in question complying with a calorie controlled diet and healthy lifestyle change. Much information is required from future research of Hoodia gordonii.

Question: Will Hoodia affect blood insulin or blood glucose levels?
Answer: The mechanism of action of Hoodia on the brain may work through receptors in the hypothalamus of the brain that respond to prevailing blood glucose concentrations in the body. However, I have described other potential mechanisms of action of Hoodia rather than its effect on glucose sensing by the brain. The constituents of Hoodia gordonii do not seem to affect prevailing blood insulin concentrations by direct mechanisms, but changes in blood glucose and insulin levels can be expected when a calorie-reduced diet reduces sugar intake which, in turn, will reduce prevailing blood glucose concentrations and blood insulin levels. Therefore, the effects of Hoodia on blood glucose or blood insulin are most likely to be indirect effects.

Question: Does Hoodia gordonii interact with medications?
Answer: There is not much information available on this subject and I can find no specific descriptions of drug interactions with Hoodia gordonii, at the time of writing. However, any reduction in calorie consumption or food intake may be expected to alter the control of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes mellitus. Therefore, weight loss must be considered as altering the clinical course or natural history of some diseases. In brief, weight loss in the obese individual has many more advantages than disadvantages and this is the overall goal in the combat against weight gain.