| For every diet pill fad there are millions of | | | | hoodia laced P 57 products by Slim Fast may |
| disappointed users that have been cheated by the | | | | show up on the market in 2007. |
| guru charlatan with the latest wonder working diet | | | | The hoodia works in this way: In your mid-brain |
| wiz pill. With the reflex flinch of one of those | | | | called the hypothalamus; you have glucose sensing |
| victims we poke the stick of revelation at hoodia. | | | | nerve cells. As you ingest food, your blood sugar |
| Walking the Kalahari Desert doesn?t seem the | | | | rises, and the glucose sensing nerve cells activate, |
| obvious place to start a diet when thirst is | | | | sending an electrical signal that we recognize as, |
| foremost on the mind. Native San Bushmen | | | | ?now I am full?. |
| featured in the movie ?The Gods Must Be Crazy? | | | | Hoodia has been tested and proven to work |
| live and thrive here for real. Thousands of years | | | | overwhelmingly against the double-blind placebo |
| ago their ancestors discovered the magical | | | | check. Individuals taking pure hoodia extract diet |
| properties of a specific cactus that thwarts | | | | pills ate 1000 fewer calories than those in the |
| hunger pains. 10, 000 times stronger than glucose, | | | | placebo check. 3500 calories = 1 pound of body |
| hoodia fools the brain into thinking you are full and | | | | fat. So every three and a half days you would |
| not hungry. | | | | lose a pound of fat by taking Hoodia. |
| This all-natural appetite suppressant is made from | | | | There are natural products for sale that are made |
| pure hoodia cactus pulp and seeds. Hoodia gordonii | | | | from real hoodia pulp that are from hoodia farms |
| is the specific cactus that has the appetite | | | | or naturally collected cactus. The hoodia plant may |
| suppressant qualities. Hoodia can be taken as a pill, | | | | take up to six years to grow to harvestable size |
| powder or a tea. Obesity has never had a foe of | | | | from seed. In 2005 CITES (Convention on |
| this gigantic magnitude, than that of the natural | | | | International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild |
| herbal hoodia diet pill! | | | | Flora and Fauna) decided to include hoodia gordonii |
| The secreted cactus, called Xhoba by San | | | | in their list of protected cactus from South Africa |
| Bushmen, collection sat in a laboratory for 30 | | | | and a permit is required to export this cactus |
| years after it was discovered before its? | | | | from its? homeland. It is estimated that by 2010 |
| properties were analyzed. The mega-behemoth | | | | there will be a shortage of this product as |
| pharmaceutical company, Pfizer (producers of | | | | demand outgrows the supply. |
| Viagra) introduced ?hoodia? to the media while | | | | Although there are no registered side effects |
| they were in preliminary studies. Pfizer terminated | | | | from taking hoodia, the native San Bushmen claim |
| all research on hoodia when terms could not be | | | | hoodia is also an aphrodisiac. The most heralded |
| agreed upon with Phytopharm that owned the | | | | use of hoodia by the African bushman is an |
| patent. Phytopharm bought up the rights from the | | | | appetite suppressant, but they also use it as a |
| San Bushmen of Kalahari to harvest, test and | | | | thirst quencher. The San consume hoodia to end |
| produce a laboratory drug called P57. This | | | | abdominal cramps, apply Xhoba for hemorrhoids, |
| synthetic Hoodia has the same active ingredient | | | | and drink hoodia tea for indigestion. Hypertension |
| as the real cactus and contains the previously | | | | and diabetes are hoodia treated by the San |
| unknown molecule named P57. Phytopharm | | | | Bushman, as well as tuberculosis. |
| decided to sell the use of their patent to Unilever, | | | | Now that we know it works, will they let us have |
| which owns Slim Fast. The sale was for 21 million | | | | it? |
| U.S. plus royalties, that remain undisclosed. The | | | | |