Hoodia Gordonii: A Guide to the Plant Extract

There are very few people who haven't heard anything about the extract of Hoodia Gordonii Cactus as this information has been everywhere in the media. That is one of the reasons products made from Hoodia Gordonii have quickly become the most wanted and looked for. One thing you need to know before choosing a treatment for yourself is that there are many various plants that are called hoodia but only Hoodia Gordonii species can actually suppress the appetite and contribute to efficient weight loss. The magic properties of this cactus were discovered by the indigenous population of South Africa, the Bushmen, many centuries ago. In the 1990s, there was a large-scale study conducted that had the aim of studying all the plants that the Bushmen tribe consumed and their effects. When Hoodia Gordonii was studied and its effects were tested on volunteers, it was revealed that it had powerful hunger and thirst suppressing effects. The active compound that was discovered in the plant was named P57 and its rights were sold to the pharmaceutical company Phytopharm. The company then went on to conduct extensive research into the plant and studied the possibility of its mass production. As the compound is patented it means that Hoodia Gordonii cannot be used to produce weight-loss supplements without the permission of Phytopharm. However, if a company doesn't claim that its product containing Hoodia Gordonii extract has strong hunger suppressing and weight loss effects, there is pretty much nothing Phytopharm can do as the patent defends the "rights of use of Hoodia Gordonii for the purpose of production of weight-loss supplements". Naturally, nobody can patent the whole plant and forbid everyone else to use it.

The most important thing for you to remember is: no matter what supplement with Hoodia Gordonii you buy, make sure it contains the authentic Hoodia Gordonii. That means it should be extracted from the plant that grows in South Africa as any other habitats of the cactus have not been found yet.