How Does The Diet Drug Hoodia Work

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Although it isn’t clear how long Bushmen tribes from Southern Africa have known about the Hoodia Gordonii cactus, it is clear that they have passed the knowledge of it’s use down from generation to generation. The land that the Bushmen live in is arid and dry. Many live in the Kalahari desert or on it’s outskirts. Food and water is often hard to come by and hunting or foraging for food often takes days to complete. During these treks,Hoodia Gordonii cactus was found to ward off hunger and has been used ever since. Only recently has widespread interest in the cactus prompted scientists to study how hoodia gordonii works. This article will trace these studies and answer the question : how does the diet drug Hoodia work to help lose weight.

The active ingredient in hoodia gordonii was identified and named P57 by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). A license was given to Phytopharm, a pharmaceutical company to synthesize P57 so that it could be produced as a weight loss supplement.

Initial tested were run by Phytopharm to see how P57 worked. The gist of the test was that an group of overweight people were split into two groups. One was given P57 extract and the other was given a placebo. They were encouraged to go about their normal activities. The test lasted for 15 days and confirmed that the people taking the hoodia gordonii supplement consumed about 1000 calories less than the placebo group.

This test would seem to confirm that taking P57 will make you eat less. This could aid your battle to lose weight. However the test was not universally accepted as a reliable way to draw this conclusion. Firstly the test was run by the company planning to synthesize the ingredient and make it into a weight loss product. The test was not open to public scrutiny. The number of people involved in the test was small and could be argued was not statistically significant.

Further research on P57 found that it mimics the effect glucose has on nerve cells in the brain. These nerve cells are situated in the hypothalamus part of the brain. When a person eats food it is metabolized into various components. Sugar goes into the bloodstream and affects the blood glucose level. This acts as a trigger to the nerve cells in the hypothalamus to tell the body it is full.

It is believed that The P57 molecule has the same affect on the nerve cells but it is far more pronounced. By taking a certain amount of P57 you can tell the brain that you are full and thus limit the amount of food that you eat.

Of course Hoodia Gordonni diet pills will only help you to eat less. They will not speed up your metabolism or help to reduce weight in any other way. You have to be committed to losing weight rather than rely on Hoodia. This means eating a sensible diet and getting regular exercise.

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