The African Herb To Combat Obesity
The San Bushmen of Southern Africa had long known and used an herb, Hoodia gordonii, for a variety of illness. They also used to eat it to suppress their hunger for a number of days when they had to go hunting where food was scarce. After removing the roots, leaves, flowers and spines, they would peel away the skin before eating it. This use of hoodia became popular worldwide only in recent years. Hoodia is found in the Kalahari Desert. What it actually does is to imitate the effect of glucose on the nerve cells of the brain many times over. You will not feel hungry; but instead you feel as though you are full. The loss of the urge to eat will mean lesser calories in your body and lesser still to burn away.
The national research laboratory of South Africa, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was able to identify the bioactive compound. They isolated the compound along with the scientists of Phytopharm, a British firm. They called the molecule p57. Further studies and clinical trial confirmed its appetite suppressing feature, something that the San Bushmen knew and used for generations. These studies also reported that there were no side effects. This corroborated also with the fact that the Bushmen have been using hoodia for thousands of years without any problems. Obesity is a rapidly increasing problem in many countries with a higher standard of affluence. Lifestyle and food practices were the major causes for obesity. The market for products for tackling the looming obesity problem is very large. Hoodia seemed to be just the right thing for the problem. Interest in p57 suddenly skyrocketed.
Hoodia gordonii began to be marketed in capsule and liquid form. It is also marketed in combination with Green Tea extract that contains naturally occurring caffeine, chromium, Niacin as Nicotinic Acid, and Cocoa extract as tru hoodia complex. But the problem was that hoodia gordonii with p57 was found only in Southern Africa, and that too in the wild. This will not meet the growing market demand. Besides, the cost will be prohibitive and increase as its availability diminishes.
The attempts to synthetically produce p57 in the lab failed. With this, there was no other option but to rely on collection from the wild or at best attempt to cultivate them. Hoodia soon became a threatened species that CITES listed it as a plant whose trade has to be restricted and controlled.