Hoodia Gordonii has been receiving a lot of public attention starting way back in 2003.

The Hoodia Gordonii plant also has received the nicknames Hoodia, Hoodie, Xhooba, Ghaap, !Khoba, hoodia cactus and South African desert cactus.

Despite what the cactus-nicknames might have you think, Hoodia Gordonii is not a cactus. It sure looks like it... but it is actually a succulent plant.

It growns primarily in the deserts of South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Botswana.

The demand for diet pills never dies down in our modern society. A while ago, the very effective fat burning herb Ephedra has been banned because of potential health hazards.

Ever since, people have been looking for other weight loss pills to fill the void.

Hoodia's popularity comes from the claim that the San tribe of the Kalahari desert have used Hoodia extensively throughout history.

It's appetite suppressing powers is so strong that it can make you feel full for a whole day if only you chew on it twice daily.

The San tribe used Hoodia to keep the hunger at bay while they were on long hunting trips. They are said to have cut off the stem and they ate the bitter tasting plant raw.

The plant takes 5 years to mature. Once it starts showing it's purple flowers, it is ready to be harvested and used for Hoodie weight loss.

There are more than 20 types of Hoodia. There is only one active ingredient in it and that is the steroidal glycoside called P57.

Hoodia Gordonii is the only type of Hoodia plant that has the P57 molecule.

Way back in 1937, there was a Dutch anthropologist who was studying the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert. He was the first to notice that they used the Hoodia Gordonii plant to suppress their appetites.

It wasn't until much later in 1967, that scientists of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (South Africa's national laboratory) began studying Hoodia. They tested Hoodia on laboratory animals and claimed that they lost weight when they were given Hoodia.

Yet again much later, these South African scientists were working together with a British company called Phytopharm. Together, they isolated the active ingredient. This was the steroidal glycoside, which they named P57.

The P57 molecule was patented in 1995 and licensed to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent over $20 million on researching Hoodia Gordonii.

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer expressed their interest in developing a Hoodie weight loss pill, and Phytopharm licensed the rights for P57 drugs to Pfizer. Later on, Pfizer returned the rights to Phytopharm.

Phytopharm is currently working together with Unilever.

The hype was caused by the television show 60 Minutes. Correspondent Leslie Stahl took off to South Africa and get a taste of the Hoodia plant for themselves. A local bushman was hired to guide them through the desert. They successfully tracked down some Hoodia and Leslie Stahl ate it.

She reported losing feelings of hunger and thirst for the rest of the entire day. No side effects were ever observed or reported by Leslie Stahl.

Since then, the Hoodie weight loss hype has been growing bigger and bigger.

Nowadays, Hoodia Gordonii extract can be bought in capsule, liquid, powder or tea form. Many health food stores and Internet shops sell it. Hoodia can also be found in the diet pill Trimspa.

Even though Hoodia is very popular, the studies looking into it are not randomized and controll trials in humans. Even though it is widely believed that Hoodia is effective and safe, it has not officially been shown.

In 2004, the P57 molecule has been injected directly into rat brains. It had a direct effect on their ATP levels. ATP is an energy molecule that might affect feelings of hunger. These lab animals ate less food than the rats who received placebo injections.

This was an animal study and the intake of P57 was not oral. Therefore, this study cannot officially be used to demonstrate that Hoodie weight loss works in humans as well.

Phytopharm, however, has run a clinical trial which involved 18 human volunteers. All of these people received Hoodia weight loss pills. As a result, their average daily caloric intake was reduced by 1000.

The placebo group didn't show any reduction at all in daily calorie intake.

This study was never officially published, so nothing can be said of the quality of the study.

Most people who try Hoodia report a significant reduction of feelings of hunger.

The best way to find out whether or not this works, is by trying Hoodie weight loss pills yourself.

There are, here and there, some reports of undesired side effects of Hoodia.

Former researcher for Hoodia at Pfizer, Jasjit S. Bindra, has stated that Hoodia is indeed a very powerful appetite suppressant, but it has some unwanted effects on the liver.

These effects are apparently caused by ingredients other than P57, which are not easily removed during processing.

Hoodia has not been officially approved by the FDA.

Hoodia might have unwanted interactions with other medication you are currently taking. Keep in mind: the San Bushmen have used it without problems for centuries, but these people were not on all sorts of modern medications that many people are on today!

Many people have tried Hoodia and the lion's share of them report no unwanted side effects. I would recommend everybody to use this powerful appetite suppressant wisely. Just because you can reduce your daily caloric intake by 1000 or more, doesn't make it a good idea!

The only way of finding out if this will work for you, is by trying it yourself. Just don't go overboard with Hoodie weight loss, and you should be fine!