Does Hoodia Gordonii work?

Hoodia Gordonii is a cactus-like plant found in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa. The San tribe have been eating the hoodia gordonii plant for centuries to stave off hunger during hunting trips. Just a small piece of the plant acts as a powerful appetite suppressant. It's all natural and so far doesn't have any side effects.

It looks like the perfect diet pill, but does hoodia work? Does Hoodia actually work to help you lose weight? Does it really do what the pill manufacturers say?

To answer this question we need to understand what hoodia does once it's ingested. In theory, Hoodia works by tricking the brain, specifically the hypothalamus, into thinking you have consumed large amounts of food. As a result, the brain tells you that you are full. The active ingredient in hoodia, P57, is responsible for this trick.

When you eat, the food in your body is broken down into sugar. When the sensors in the hypothalamus recognize the sugar in your body, it shuts down your desire to eat. P57 is 10,000 more powerful than blood sugar (glucose). Without eating any food, P57 can trick your brain into thinking you have consumed large amounts of food when in fact you haven't eaten a thing!

In theory this sounds great but does hoodia work like this in the real world? Phytopharm, an UK based pharmaceutical company, put the theory to the test in the 1990's. The study comprised of 18 morbidly obese volunteers. Half of them were given authentic hoodia gordonii supplements and the other half were given a placebo for 15 days.

Those who were given hoodia diet pills ate 1,000 less calories each day than they had previously to the study. These volunteers made no other lifestyle changes, did not increase their exercise regimen, and were unaware of the effect hoodia was having on their appetite. They experienced a natural reduction in appetite with no effort on their part.

Here are 3 ways Hoodia helps you lose weight and 3 other things you should know to make Hoodia work best for you.

1) Hoodia Makes You Physically Less Hungry

Pure Hoodia contains a molecule scientists called "P57" which, they believe, is responsible for making you feel full.

Normally, when you eat food, this food turns to glucose. When the glucose in your body rises it eventually signals to your brain (the hypothalamus) that you are full.

It is believed that "P57" molecule in Hoodia mimics the effect that glucose has on your brain, telling part of your brain (the Hypothalamus) that you feel full. Consequently, you are physically less hungry.

One of the first studies of Hoodia Gordonii was done in the UK on obese patients. Half of the volunteers were given Hoodia Gordonii, the other half were given a placebo.

The subjects were allowed to do nothing but read, watch television and eat. After 15 days it was found that those taking Hoodia had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 calories a day. Despite having unlimited access to food, the Hoodia subjects lost weight without feeling hungry.

2) Hoodia Turns Off The Desire To Overeat

Some people have reported that not only does Hoodia make them feel full, but it also shuts off their desire to eat.

As many of us know, we can feel physically satisfied but still eat for a variety of reasons like emotions, timing and social influence. In fact emotional eating is actually responsible for more overeating than physical hunger.

Hoodia can help some people lose weight by quenching this desire to eat and breaking the emotional attachment to food.

By quenching this emotional attachment to food, Hoodia can help the individual to develop new emotional coping skills that don't include using food for comfort.

Note: Hoodia may not have this effect on everyone, however many people have reported having less of a desire to eat after taking Hoodia.

3) By Turning Off Your Appetite Hoodia Allows You To Start Making Positive, Healthy Food Choices

How many times have we planned to eat healthy and then that old, ugly hunger rears it's ugly head and demands food NOW. We end up reaching for anything that's fast, easy and usually unhealthy.

By turning off your appetite, Hoodia allows you to start to make positive, healthy food choices. It takes the pain out of building new healthier eating choices. Since you probably don't want to be on Hoodia forever, this is a great way to lose weight and transition your eating to a healthier, lighter diet - with less pain and deprivation.

So in the end does hoodia work? The best way to answer the question is to try it yourself and see what results you get. Just be sure the hoodia diet pills you are taking contain authentic hoodia gordonii or you can be assured that it won't work!