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 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.
"Hoodia, a plant that tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full, has been in the diet of South Africa's Bushmen for thousands of years."
Because the only place in the world where hoodia grows wild is in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.
Nigel Crawhall, a linguist and interpreter, hired an experienced tracker named Toppies Kruiper, a local aboriginal Bushman, to help find it. The Bushmen were featured in the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy."
Kruiper led 60 Minutes crews out into the desert. Stahl asked him if he ate hoodia. "I really like to eat them when the new rains have come," says Kruiper, speaking through the interpreter. "Then they're really quite delicious."
When we located the plant, Kruiper cut off a stalk that looked like a small spiky pickle, and removed the sharp spines. In the interest of science, Stahl ate it. She described the taste as "a little cucumbery in texture, but not bad."
So how did it work? Stahl says she had no after effects - no funny taste in her mouth, no queasy stomach, and no racing heart. She also wasn't hungry all day, even when she would normally have a pang around mealtime. And, she also had no desire to eat or drink the entire day. "I'd have to say it did work," says Stahl.
Although the West is just discovering hoodia, the Bushmen of the Kalahari have been eating it for a very long time. After all, they have been living off the land in southern Africa for more than 100,000 years.
Some of the Bushmen, like Anna Swartz, still live in old traditional huts, and cook so-called Bush food gathered from the desert the old-fashioned way.
The first scientific investigation of the plant was conducted at South Africa's national laboratory. Because Bushmen were known to eat hoodia, it was included in a study of indigenous foods.
"What they found was when they fed it to animals, the animals ate it and lost weight," says Dr. Richard Dixey, who heads an English pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm that is trying to develop weight-loss products based on hoodia.
Was hoodia's potential application as an appetite suppressant immediately obvious?
"No, it took them a long time. In fact, the original research was done in the mid 1960s," says Dixey.
It took the South African national laboratory 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite-suppressing ingredient in hoodia. When they found it, they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm.
Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million so far on research, including clinical trials with obese volunteers that have yielded promising results. Subjects given hoodia ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900.
"If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically," says Dixey.
But why do you need a patent for a plant? "The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight-loss material. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey.
So no one else can use ? "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey.
But what does that say about all these weight-loss products that claim to have hoodia in it? Trimspa says its X32 pills contain 75 mg of hoodia. The company is pushing its product with an ad campaign featuring Anna Nicole Smith, even though the FDA has notified Trimspa that it hasn't demonstrated that the product is safe.
Some companies have even used the results of Phytopharm's clinical tests to market their products.
"This is just straightforward theft. That's what it is. People are stealing data, which they haven't done, they've got no proper understanding of, and sticking on the bottle," says Dixey. "When we have assayed these materials, they contain between 0.1 and 0.01 percent of the active ingredient claimed. But they use the term hoodia on the bottle, of course, so they -- does nothing at all."
But Dixey isn't the only one who's felt ripped off. The Bushmen first heard the news about the patent when Phytopharm put out a press release. Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, who are also called "the San," was appalled.
"The San did not even know about it," says Chennells. "They had given the information that led directly toward the patent."
The taking of traditional knowledge without compensation is called "bio-piracy."
"You have said, and I'm going to quote you, 'that the San felt as if someone had stolen the family silver,'" says Stahl to Chennells. "So what did you do?"
"I wouldn't want to go into some of the details as to what kind of letters were written or what kind of threats were made," says Chennells. "We engaged them. They had done something wrong, and we wanted them to acknowledge it."
Chennells was determined to help the Bushmen who, he says, have been exploited for centuries. First they were pushed aside by black tribes. Then, when white colonists arrived, they were nearly annihilated.
"About the turn of the century, there were still hunting parties in Namibia and in South Africa that allowed farmers to go and kill Bushmen," says Chennells. "It's well documented."
The Bushmen are still stigmatized in South Africa, and plagued with high unemployment, little education, and lots of alcoholism. And now, it seemed they were about to be cut out of a potential windfall from hoodia. So Chennells threatened to sue the national lab on their behalf.
"We knew that if it was successful, many, many millions of dollars would be coming towards the San," says Chennells. "Many, many millions. They've talked about the market being hundreds and hundreds of millions in America."
In the end, a settlement was reached. The Bushmen will get a percentage of the profits -- if there are profits. But that's a big if.
The future of hoodia is not yet a sure thing. The project hit a major snag last year. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which had teamed up with Phytopharm, and funded much of the research, dropped out when making a pill out of the active ingredient seemed beyond reach.
Dixey says it can be made synthetically: "We've made milligrams of it. But it's very expensive. It's not possible to make it synthetically in what's called a scaleable process. So we couldn't make a metric ton of it or something that is the sort of quantity you'd need to actually start doing something about obesity in thousands of people."
Phytopharm decided to market hoodia in its natural form, in diet shakes and bars. That meant it needed the hoodia plant itself.
But given the obesity epidemic in the United States, it became obvious that what was needed was a lot of hoodia - much more than was growing in the wild in the Kalahari. And so they came here.
60 Minutes visited one of Phytopharm's hoodia plantations in South Africa. They'll need a lot of these plantations to meet the expected demand.
Agronomist Simon MacWilliam has a tall order: grow a billion portions a year of hoodia, within just a couple of years. He admitted that starting up the plantation has been quite a challenge.
"The problem is we're dealing with a novel crop. It's a plant we've taken out of the wild and we're starting to grow it,' says MacWilliam. "So we have no experience. So it's different? diseases and pests which we have to deal with."
How confident are they that they will be able to grow enough? "We're very confident of that," he says. "We've got an expansion program which is going to be 100s of acres. And we'll be able - ready to meet the demand.
This could be huge, given the obesity epidemic. Phytopharm says it's about to announce marketing plans that will have meal-replacement hoodia products on supermarket shelves by 2008.
MacWilliam says these products are a slightly different species from the hoodia Stahl tasted in the Kalahari Desert. "It's actually a lot more bitter than the plant that you tasted," says MacWilliam.
The advantage is this species of hoodia will grow a lot faster. But more bitter? How bad could it be? Stahl decided to find out. "Not good," she says.
Phytopharm says that when its product gets to market, it will be certified safe and effective. They also promise that it'll taste good.
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HOODIA GORDONII ve P57 GERÇEGİ.
Hoodia sanıldığı gibi sadece Güney Afrika’da, Kalahari Çölü’nde değil , Orta Namibya’dan başlayıp Angola’nın güneyine kadar uzayan bir coğrafya da yetişen bir kaktüstür.Özellikle çölleşmiş arazilerde ve kayalık bölgelerde yetişmektedir. Bir metreye kadar uzadıkları da görülen Hoodia Kaktüsleri insan teni renginde,oldukça kokulu ve geniş çiçeklere sahiptirler. Yerli dillerinde “Ormancı Şapkası ya da Namibya Kraliçesi” anlamına da gelen isimlerle anılır.Kalahari yerlileri ise bu bitkiye “Xhobo” ismini vermiştir. 13 farklı çeşidi olan Hoodia Kaktüsü’nün en bilineni ve iştah kesici olarak anılanı Hoodia Gordonii cinsidir.
Hoodia Kaktüsü’nün diğer cinsleri de “Hoodia Alstonii,Hoodia currorii,Hoodia dregei,Hoodia flama,Hoodia juttae, Hoodia mossamednesis,Hoodia offiçinalis,Hoodia parfifloar,hoodai pedicellata,Hoodia pilifera,Hoodia ruschii,Hoodia triebneridir....
Today is the last day of my first week on my diet. Tomorrow I will weigh myself again. My start weight was 172lbs. I am excited to see what it will be and scared at the same time. I know that I haven't really been eating hardly anything this past week, but I am still scared. What if I didn't lose anything at all? Well, I will just have to wait and see tomorrow.
Today, I took my first set of Hoodia prime pills at 10:23 A.M. I was not hungry. I didn't really do anything today. Just hanging out watching some t.v. and talking with the family. About maybe 2:30 I had a hamburger. It was good stuff. I ate it slow and enjoyed every bit of it. Ofcourse, I was very full when I finished.
It is now 5:11 P.M. and I just took my second set of Hoodia Prime pills. I am not hungry at all and I made sure that I drank alot of water today. I am posting my pictures today. I hate taking pictures. I don't like the camera at all. We were never good friends. But if I am going to have an online journal about my Hoodia Prime diet, then I have to put my pictures up as extra incentive. If I see it all the time, and I dont like it, I will work harder to change it. The easy part has already started. Hoodia is doing its job (I'm not eating as much), so I am just trying to figure out what I can do about my part and be comfortable with it.
I was going to wait until tomorrow to start this, but it is going to take awhile for it to work. So the new thing for this next week is I will be taking laxatives. I started them tonight. Everybody needs to be cleaned out, and I think it is time for me. I WOULD try a colon cleanser type thing, but I need to re-order my Hoodia Prime pills.I don't have the money for both and Hoodia wins. I only got the one bottle to try it out and it has been working a lot better than I expected. I am almost out and I am NOT going to make the mistake of ordering just one bottle again. I am definitely going for the 6 bottles this time.
Its been a great day. I will let you all know what tomorrow brings... tomorrow! Have a great rest of the night.
If you want the info on Hoodia Prime it's here:
AFP - British and French scientists have identified several variants of a single gene that boost the risk of obesity, according to a study published Sunday in the British journal Nature.
Today was pretty darn interesting. I first of all have to say that I have had my first bbq where I didn't have one of everything that was made. It was a little depressing and super exciting at the same time. There was so much yummy food and I didn't want to eat any of them. Anyway, let me go back and start from this morning. Today is July 5th. Our big bbq day for the UFC and the 4th of July. I got out of bed about 9 A.M. and went outside to spend some time with the Family. About 10:30 A.M. I took my Hoodia Prime pills. I wasn't hungry AT ALL but want to stick with the plan as much as I can. I have to get the house ready for the bbq, so off to cleaning I go. Yay.Fun. NOT!
I stayed busy cleaning for awhile. Anyway about 3 P.M. I started feeling a little weird. I realized that I have been so busy cleaning that I wasn't drinking any water. I was doing a lot of sweating and NO WATER!! So I decided that I was going to have that awesome steak that my baby made for me last night (with some green peppers, ofcourse) YUM! and DEFINITELY some water. If you are not going to eat, at least drink some water. That is my steak at the top of the page. On the left is what is looked like before I started. That is some GOOD STUFF! Mmmm! :) On the right is what I finished with. I just couldn't eat anymore. Isn't that great? :D
Anyway, back to cleaning and no I didnt take my pills in the afternoon. I know I am bad. It was just a VERY busy day. About 5:30 people started showing up and so there was a lot of cooking to do. I didn't even sneak a bite. Not even once. I love this Hoodia Prime. Everybody ate (except me, I played some video games with one of my sons), everyone had fun. UFC was great. I only watched the very last fight (Forest vs. Rampage) It was the one that I wanted to see the most anyway. Forest won!! YAY FOREST!! :)
I didn't take my Hoodia Prime tonight. I was still not hungry, but it was getting late (it was about 10 P.M.) and I was trying to figure out if I should take it or just grab something to eat and get back on schedule tomorrow. I decided that I was going to eat. I went to grab some food and nothing. I didn't want any of it. I really freaken love these pills. I grabbed a small hamburger patty and just ate that (3 bites) before I was done. I couldn't eat anymore. I got some water and here I am. It is bedtime.
I am going to bed. I hope you ALL have sweet dreams tonight.
More info on Hoodia:
Okay, so last night (or very early this morning), I just couldn't sleep. Too much stress about the food and Fourth of July. Tomorrow (July 5th) is actually when we are going to have our BIG bbq. The UFC fight will be on (Forest and Rampage, I like them both, but GO FOREST), anyway there will be LOTS of food. I feel better today than I did in the middle of the night. I didn't take my Hoodia Prime pills this morning because I was so tired from being up so late. I didn't wake up until about 9:30 A.M. I wasn't hungry then and so I totally forgot about taking my pills. About 11:30 A.M. I got a little hungry and so I had some home-made Mac and Cheese (My boyfriend's dad's specialty). I can usually eat at least two bowls of this, but I could barely finish one. I thought about taking my pills then, but I had to put some chairs together (My boyfriend bought a new patio set). It is beautiful. I forgot about taking my pills until about 3:30 P.M.
I was trying to figure out what to do about that even though I wasn't hungry, so I decided that I am going to experiment and take three pills. I wasn't going to take four because I've never even taken three Hoodia pills at once. I thought that I would try it out. After all this is MY diet. MY WAY.
It is now 9:32 P.M. and I am still NOT hungry. I freaken love these pills. I have not taken anymore pills today. I have been drinking A LOT of fluids all day, so I feel pretty darn good. My boyfriend is making bbq steaks tonight and oh, it is sooo good with the green hot peppers (I don't know if thats what they are called) but they are SO great together. That is some YUMMY stuff. He is making dinner late tonight because they had to go put the trap for some crawdads (I'm not sure if that is exactly what they are called, but Ewww) and then watch fireworks. So I should be some kind of hungry right now for something, but I'm not. Everything is going great so far and I have to say, my stress for our Fourth Of July bbq is GONE!
I hope you ALL have a SUPER great night tonight and a VERY happy Fourth of July. SWEET DREAMS TO ALL! :)
If you want more information on Hoddia Prime, here it is:
[wp_caption id="attachment_179" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Diät-Pillen Hoodia"][/wp_caption]Noch ein Beispiel für rücksichtslose Ausbeutung der Natur: Das kaktusähnliche Gewächs Hoodia gordonii ist als Appetitzügler und Durstlöscher seit Jahrhunderten unter dem Stamm der San Südafrikas bekannt. Seit einiger Zeit aber werden Hoodia-Produkte als Schlankmacher im Rest der Welt angeboten. Damit ist es mit der bloßen Nutzung der Pflanzen vorbei, denn für die Herstellung von Diätmitteln werden die Wildbestände schonungslos geplündert. "Hoodia gehört zu den weltweit etwa 350 Arzneipflanzen, die unter die strengen Schutzbestimmungen des Washingtoner Artenschutzübereinkommens fallen", sagt Jutta Jahrl vom WWF.
Während Pharmakonzerne mit der Verwertung und Vermarktung traditionellen Wissens der indigenen Völker machen, erhalten letztere kaum etwas und wenn doch, dann müssen sie sich eine Entschädigung mit jahrelangem Rechtsstreit erkämpfen. Auch die San erhielten nur eine geringe Entschädigung durch den Patentinhaber - einem Pharma-Institut in Südafrika.
Der renommierte Experte Michael Heinrich, Leiter des London hat davor gewarnt, dass die massive Nutzung von pflanzlichen Arzneimitteln zu einem Verlust der Biodiversität führe.
"Die steigende Nachfrage unserer Überflussgesellschaften nach Schlankmachern und anderen Nahrungsergänzungsmitteln aus der Natur hat zum gefährlichen Schrumpfen der Bestände von Heil- und Medizinalpflanzen geführt". Das größte Problem dabei sei, dass 80 Prozent dieser Pflanzen nicht kommerziell angebaut, sondern wild gesammelt werden. So könne auch Hoodia noch nicht in großem Stil gezüchtet werden.
Das Schlimmste aber ist, dass man den Einheimischen durch rücksichtslose Ausbeutung die Möglichkeit der Nutzung von Heilmethoden und lebensnotwendiges Wissen, das sie von Generation zu Generation weiter gegeben haben, entzieht.
ptat
It is 2:15 A.M. on July 4. I haven't gone to sleep yet and I also haven't eaten anything yet. I don't want to eat, which is awesome and kind of weird at the same time right now. I am usually raiding the fridge at this time and watching some t.v. I feel like I should, but I don't really want that though. I think that keeping a blog about what I am going through and what I am feeling is working just as good as the Hoodia. Hahahahaha... okay, maybe the Hoodia Prime is doing most of the work. I just don't feel like grabbing everything from the fridge and laying in bed watching some late night shows AND my boyfriend sleep (and hope that he doesn't wake up and see me eating EVERYTHING). That was never a good thing. I think that he wonders sometimes how I got so big. Baby, that's what happened.
Anyway, I LOVE that I have Hoodia Prime and the internet. It has just been GREAT. Honestly. I was so excited tonight (or this morning) when I got on the computer and I had a comment. I just want to say thank you to Jamie so much for your encouraging words. You are very sweet. Thank you.
I have Hoodia Prime to keep me from running to the kitchen and people like Jamie to keep my hopes up. I can honestly say that I am going back to bed happy and saving tomorrows stress for TOMORROW!
Love you all. This is great. Thanks again.
If you would like to see Jamie's page it is: (very unrelated, but very sweet for the time) :)
If you want more info on Hoodia Prime, you can get it here:
Good night again, and sweet dreams!
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