Hoodia
is a succulent that looks like a cactus. It has been described
as a somewhat bitter-tasting cucumber that thrives in extremely
hot, dry weather and takes 5-7 years to reach maturity.
Hoodia grows in the Kalahari Desert region of South Africa,
as well as the countries of Botswana, Namibia and Angola.
It is said that for generations the San Bushmen, tribesmen
native to the regions Hoodia grows, have removed the skin
and spines of Hoodia prior to consumption as a way to curb
their hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips.
In 1995
scientists isolated that one molecule in the plant that
is responsible for the Hoodia appetite reducing effect.
The molecule was named P57. The process to isolate the P57
compound was patented and the rights were sold to a British
company called Phytopharm. In 1998 Phytopharm signed a licensing
agreement with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Together,
these two companies set the goal to isolate P57 in order
to market and sell it for commercial weight loss purposes
in the form of diet pills and capsules. In 2003, after many
years of research, and no marketable P57 diet product, Pfizer
elected to end its Hoodia contract with Phytopharm. Why?
The process of isolating the P57 compound was way too costly
to produce as a commercial weight loss product.
Research
Phytopharm
conducted one proprietary clinical study in 2001. The results
of this study were never submitted to a peer-reviewed journal;
however, nearly every Hoodia marketer promotes the study
in announcing the legitimacy of their product as a "magical"
weight loss ingredient. The small study included only (18)
eighteen subjects and they were all obese. The subjects
took either the P57 compound or a placebo twice a day for
15 days. What Phytopharm concluded from their study was
that the obese people who took P57 reduced their daily calorie
intake by 1,000 and suffered no adverse effects. Phytopharm
was so encouraged by their own study that they invested
millions of dollars to determine how effectively farm and
cultivate Hoodia.
In December
of 2004 Phytopharm and Unilever (which owns commercially
popular SlimFast amongst other business holdings) announced
a deal which they claim will put Hoodia on the market within
3 years. Unilever paid $21 million to help fund additional
clinical trials and expansion of the Hoodia cultivation
program in South Africa and Namibia. Their goal is to include
P57 in food products such as meal replacement shakes and
other diet related products.
What
Does The Future Hold For Hoodia?
To date
there has, not been any controlled Hoodia clinical study
that shows statistically significant results for weight
loss. However, this does not mean that Hoodia will not offer
potential as an appetite suppressant in the future.
If additional research indicates that Hoodia works as well
as Phytopharm suggests it does, then it may in fact turn
out to be a useful way to control weight. Until then, Phytopharm
needs to conduct more clinical research with Hoodia so that
broader conclusions may be reached. In the meantime, consumers
should be aware of the unscrupulous Hoodia product peddlers
attempting to dupe the public by offering for sale dried,
powdered versions of Hoodia that are not regulated or inspected,
and the exact contents of which are unknown. In addition,
it should be stated that the appetite suppressing ability
of Hoodia has only been shown effective in large fresh pieces
of the plant, about 2 or 3 inches long. The dried powder
that many peddlers are hawking these days contains such
a small amount of P57 that it cannot produce any true, desired
effect. This clearly demonstrates that many of these Hoodia
peddlers are attempting to make a quick buck off the unsuspecting
consumer. If the manufacturing process was as easy as drying
and grinding the Hoodia plant don't you think Pfizer and
Phytopharm would have been selling P57 as a weight loss
product back in 1998?
