How Can Hoodia Help in Weight Loss?

Hoodia Gordonii grows in the Kalahari desert in Africa, and has done for thousands of years. It clearly thrives in very high temperatures, but it also takes many years to mature. Also living in the same region are the San Tribesmen, or Bushmen. The San are amongst the world’s oldest and most primitive tribes.

The San have been eating hoodia plants for thousands of years. Now, I am sure your vision of an African desert tribe would not be anything like obese Americans or Europeans, for whom hoodia has been mooted as a possible weight loss aid. In fact, you probably imagine quite the opposite, a lithe and slender people struggling to survive on desert morsels. You would be right.

How, then, can the San's inclusion of hoodia in their diet have anything to do with weight loss aids?

The answer is in the reason they have, for all those generations, been eating the hoodia cactus. Their quest for food in the shifting sands of the Kalahari Desert has always meant going on long hunting expeditions. Instant gratification for hunger pangs was not usually on the menu, so with their hunting trips lasting for days, they ate hoodia gordonii because it suppressed those hunger pangs for long periods. No hunger pangs meant no overwhelming desire to eat. That made the whole hunting process that much more bearable.

You are probably now beginning to see how hoodia might come to the aid of the obese and overweight. Those who have trouble controlling their eating urges may have a close ally in Hoodia Gordonii. If a dose of the plant can suppress their desire to eat, to stop them feeling hungry at meal times, then surely they will find it easier to cut back on calorie intake?

A new report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finds that many weight-loss ads need some toning.

The review of 300 ads that ran during 2001 found that many made claims promising more than the product or service could likely deliver. The ads often boasted “miraculous” results — quick, easy and effective weight loss — while ignoring and often contradicting the basic tenets of successful weight loss and weight maintenance — calorie reduction and exercise. Many ads lacked scientific evidence to support their performance claims, instead using misleading consumer testimonials and expert endorsements and other deceptive techniques to bolster the credibility of their products.

And, the report found, the use of exaggerated weight-loss claims is on the rise.

“This report confirms that consumers really need to read these ads with a big dollop of skepticism,” said Richard Cleland, an Assistant Director for the FTC’s Division of Advertising Practices and the report’s lead author. “False and misleading claims in weight-loss ads are widespread.”

The report, he says, shows that the media, advertisers, and even consumers need to assess the role each plays in ensuring the accuracy of weight-loss ads. “Deceptive ads do nothing to address an individual’s weight problem,” he says. “If anything, they compound an already serious national health crisis by steering consumers away from weight-loss methods that have demonstrated benefits.”