By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
November 7, 2009
Hoodia Gordonii is a cactus, grown in Africa’s Kalahari and eaten
by the San Bushmen there. Hoodia Gordonii supposedly curbs your
appetite and helps you lose weight. But does it really?
Look on the Internet and you’ll find dozens of ads peddling
pills which supposedly contain the product.
The key word here is supposedly. It is illegal to export the
plant from Africa and numerous tests have found no cactus juice in
any of the pills.
Then there are the reports of how well it works. Hoodia
Gordonii supposedly contains a molecule, P57, which tells the
nerves in your hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls
appetite, to stop you from eating.
The problem is no one seems to be able to find those studies
that prove it works in rats or can cut he appetite of obese people
by 1,000 calories per day.
And then there is Pfizer. The big drug company bought the
rights to develop Hoodia Gordonii in 1998 and sold them back in
2003.
Hmmmm. I wonder what they know?
Until we know more about Hoodia, I’d stick to diet and
exercise.
