Science Behind Hoodia Gordonii

Hoodia has only been on the market a few years, and has already made a splash on the market. However, few know how it works beyond its success as a hunger suppressant, and how it affects them personally. It may help to understand hw it works from a more scientific perspective.

What makes hoodia supplements so different is it really works when it comes to preventing weight gain. As much as everyone argues about which way to lose weight is better (low carb or low fat) in the end losing weight is a simple equation: Take in less calories than you burn and you will lose weight. It is really simple math, , and hoodia gives you a powerful weapon to fight hunger and therefore take in less calories. No need to run the body hotter or faster or harder, simply you consume less calories and therefore lose weight.

What makes hoodia work is the molecule P57, which is found only in hoodia gordonii. “There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus,” explains Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey about P57. “Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar. When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full. What the hoodia seems to contain is a molecule that is about 10,000 times as active as glucose. It goes to the mid-brain and actually makes those nerve cells fire as if you were full. But you have not eaten. Nor do you want to.”

Phytopharm was working with Pfizer in order to bring it to the market, but that didn't work as well as Phytopharm would have liked; they knew that hoodia gordonii was too powerful an appetite suppressant to give up trying to bring it to the market. In December 2004, Phytopharm announced that Unilever had entered a deal to market hoodia gordonii in its diet food product line. Therefore, rather than producing diet drugs, it looks like Phytopharm and Unilever will product diet supplements and diet foods with hoodia. The first Unilever products will not be out until 2008.

Combined with a healthy diet and a regular exercise, hoodia can have a transformative effect on the a person's life, especially if that person learns how to to balance diet and exercise with their life. By using the hoodia, the person can find their own path to a healthier lifestyle.