African plant may help fight fat!
In amongst the hordes of junk mail we receive was one with the eye-catching subject “Miracle plant from Africa fights fat!”. What with it being winter and the bulge blatantly making itself felt yet again, we thought we’d investigate this mystery plant and see if it’s all a lot of hot air or not. Now the question is where on earth do we find this stuff? The Kalahari of course! Typical …
– there had to be a catch! Oh well, we will just have another chunk of cheese.
From CBS news:
Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.
Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it’ll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away.
It’s very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn’t stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you’re full, even if you’ve eaten just a morsel. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports.
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Hoodia is a bitter-tasting cactus-like plant. 60 Minutes was told that if it wanted to try hoodia, it would have to go to Africa. Why? Because the only place in the world where hoodia grows wild is in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.
For more click here.
The History Of Hoodia
No one can say for sure, but it is believed the indigenous San People used Hoodia for most or all of the 27,000-plus years they lived in the Kalahari. It was not until 1937 when a Dutch anthropologist studying their customs and noticed that they munched on the stem to stifle the fierce hunger pangs they endured during long hunting trips that Hoodia first came to the attention of the west. Apparently, without realizing its true potential the Dutch researcher observed what was then and remains today the plant with the most powerful natural appetite-suppressant known to man.
Intriguingly enough, Hoodia sat on the back shelf in a lab for almost thirty years until South African scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) began studying it and discovered that Lab animals fed the flesh of the succulent lost weight and suffered no ill effects.
This Hoodia plant with an appetite-suppressing effect greater than that of any other is credited for the endurance and survival of the hardy San people whose heritage can be traced back to rock paintings 27,000 years old has taken center stage.
Realizing that Hoodia stops hunger and provides a state of alertness (without the jittery feeling) the Western world is consternated by the prospects. With obesity-related health problems (cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, hypertension osteoarthritis, atherosclerosis, heart disease…) on the rise and health costs soaring the entire world is focussing on Hoodia and the promise it holds.
What about the SAN – how do they benefit?
The CSIR and the South African San Council announced today that they have reached an agreement to share the benefits that are anticipated to arise from the potential commercial success of a CSIR patent that followed research and development of new technology related to the Hoodia plant. Dubbed P57, clinical trials continue internationally on the product, which – if successful – will form the basis of a new obesity treatment. The agreement was signed by CSIR President, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi and Chairperson of the South African San Council, Mr Petrus Vaalbooi. South Africa’s Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane, attended this historical occasion and signed the agreement as witness.
Under the terms of the agreement, the CSIR will pay the San eight percent of all milestone payments it receives from its licensee, UK-based Phytopharm plc, as well as six percent of all royalties that the CSIR receives once the drug is commercially available. Milestone payments are subject to agreed technical performance targets of P57 during its clinical development over the next three to four years, and royalties are based on sales which are not set to commence before 2008.
This benefit-sharing model ensures that the San will receive equitable benefits if the drug is successfully commercialised, and is based on established international benefit-sharing models for the pharmaceutical industry. Factors such as the size of the global anti-obesity market and the percentage of total market that the potential new drug could capture, are typically factors which determine the translation of the royalty percentage into monetary value.
Buyer Beware
Not only is Hoodia gordonii extremely difficult to identify because it looks so similar to other Hoodia succulents of the same family. In addition to the Hoodia gordonii succulent you have, Hoodia alstonii, Hoodia currorii, Hoodia currorii, Hoodia lugardii, Hoodia dregei, Hoodia flava, Hoodia juttae, Hoodia officinalis, Hoodia parviflora, Hoodia pedicellata, Hoodia pilifera, Hoodia pilifera, Hoodia ruschii and Hoodia triebneri, just to name a few.
This makes it extremely critical that you buy products made only from genuine Certified Pure South African Hoodia Gordonii.
