Hoodia is a plant that is widely used by the San people of Southern Africa. It is a genus of succulent plants in the family of Apocynaceae and is used as an appetite suppressant and a thirst quencher. Hoodia is also used as a cure for some ailments such as severe abdominal cramps, tuberculosis, haemorrhoids, hypertension, diabetes and indigestion.

The communities known to use the Hoodia plant are the Anikhwe (Northern Botswana), Khomani (North Western South Africa), Hai om (Northern Namibia) and the Xun and Khwe (from Angola). There is little known about the use of this group of plants by other native people but it has been shown that Hoodia parts have had limited use as food items, although not as preferred food items. Hoodias are known to be used for cultural purposes and although they are reasonably difficult to cultivate they are quite attractive plants and are quite commonly used for horticultural purposes.

The CSIR - or Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - in South Africa isolated an active compound known as P57 for appetite suppression from H. gordonii. The CSIR then licensed the rights for further development of the P57 compound and the setting up of a sustainable production system to Phytopharm in the UK. Phytopharm then sub licensed the rights to Pfizer for the development and global commercialization. Pfizer recently returned the clinical developmental rights.

Hoodia Gordonii has become incredibly popular for its natural appetite suppressant and is a very effective method used for weight loss.

For more information click here