The Fuss About Hoodia – Does Hoodia Work?

People are highly excited about the latest diet supplement called Hoodia. Advertising and promotional campaigns that focus on how the diet pill suppresses appetite without any complications have been bombarding varied forms media for many years now. With all this hype and media attention, one actually has to wonder : does hoodia work?

Hoodia is native to Africa, significantly Namibia, Angola, Botswana and South Africa. It is a low flowering bush which has been cropped by African Bushmen for thousands of years to use during long hunting periods. These Bushmen use hoodia to suppress appetite and thirst during periods when food is not widely available. In the 1960’s the Council for scientific and business Research ( CSIR ) in SA began to study hoodia by administering the substance to lab animals. Studies have shown that lab animals did shed weight compared to lab animals that weren’t given hoodia.

The popular US television show 60 Minutes together with Reporter Leslie Stahl went to S. A. to try hoodia. The correspondent and her crew employed African Bushmen to go out into the desert to find the plant. Stahl later went on to describe that hoodia tasted’like cucumber but not bad’. She also noted that hoodia did suppress her appetite and thirst and did not notice any complications while she was under the influence of the herb.

during an independent study, a small group of people were given hoodia, the rest were given pill pills. This study discovered that people who were given hoodia had a dramatic dip in their calorie intake in the time they were given the pills compared to those on placebo. Consumption of the people on hoodia was around 1,000 calories normally.

Most avid dieters would note that some of the common complications of diet tablets include nausea, giddiness, throbbing, insomnia and headaches to name a couple. The African Bushmen as well as the people on the study noted that many of these were absent while they were on hoodia. Probably only the genuine danger that hoodia could have is that it can make contributions to dehyrdration. But because hoodia is comparatively new to the Western world, studies and research on the drug are still in its infancy. Caution is required for people who are undergoing medicine, have diabetes or coronary disease and other medical complications . A good guideline would be to consult with a medical practitioner before taking the diet pills.

Just like every other diet tablet, popping hoodia diet pills will not make the dieter magically shed pounds. Hoodia simply represses the intake of food by fooling the brain into assuming that one is full and doesn’t need food. Remember that hoodia was used by the Bushmen to stave off hunger and thirst while hunting, a period where food is scarce. In order to make hoodia effectively work and do its job, a healthy reasonable healthy diet as well as exercise is required to maximise its effects. The whole idea of going on a diet and shedding weight is to become fitter, so people who are interested in taking hoodia diet supplements have to monitor food as well as water consumption.

So, does hoodia work? The studies say so and healthy people who have taken the pill agree that hoodia gordonii side effects are almost none existent. Hoodia when taken properly, joined with exercise and healthy food decisions can make weight loss less complicated and pain-free for most of us. Remember that hoodia is an aid, not a means for weight loss.