Stroll into your local supermarket, supercenter, or pharmacy and if you get anywhere near the supplement aisle you will find some product promising amazing weight loss due to the inclusion of the latest natural wonder: Hoodia! This brief article intends to address, from a pharmacist's perspective, the key questions that every consumer should ask about Hoodia: What is Hoodia? Does it work? Is it Safe? And should I buy it? These questions should give you an informed foundation from which to make your own decision about this popular product. I have worked in the pharmaceutical profession for 20 years, mostly in retail and teaching pharmacology, and it is my own research and experience that I am sharing with you now.

So what is all the hoopla about Hoodia? Well, this is actually the easiest of the 4 questions. Hoodia is a plant. It looks like a small cactus (though for any of you science students out there it actually belongs to the Apocynaceae family not the cactus family). And if you swallow it whole you will lose weight. Just kidding! Don't do that. Those prickles hurt going down. It is a rare plant and a protected plant. So don't bother going down to your local garden shop and asking for one to grow at home. You can't get it. Sorry. Actually, the flowers apparently smell like rotten meat. So men...stick with the roses for now please. Anyway, a plant promoted for its weight loss potential is not your best bet for a birthday present anyway! It is only found, as far as I could discover, in the Kalahari Dessert in South Africa and in Namibia. That's a bit too far to drive with the price of gas these days. The specific species that we are concerned about is called Hoodia gordonii (one of the 13 known Hoodia plant species).

So...is there any truth to the Hoodia hype? Does it work for weight loss? The plant itself has been reportedly used for centuries by the San tribe people of South Africa as a means to suppress the appetite while going on prolonged hunting expeditions. Does this mean they weren't all that good at hunting? I'm not sure. But it seemed to work great for them. So when the pharmaceutical industry heard about it you can imagine the excitement! Subsequent studies discovered that there is an active ingredient which they labeled "P57" responsible for the appetite suppressant effect.

Initially the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, entered into a contract to try and successfully extract and test P57 from the Hoodia plant as a weight loss supplement. Such efforts failed. They could not adequately isolate the active ingredient and a safe and stable form for testing. They quit. Since then two other manufacturers have combined efforts and as recently as 2006 have claimed to successfully isolate and extract P57 in a form that could be tested and marketed to the public. Since this time the diet market has begun to be flooded by Hoodia containing capsules and shakes claiming amazing weight loss potential.

What studies have been done?

• A small study in animals seemed to suggest an appetite suppressant effect

• A doctor from Pennsylvania working with Bucks County Clinical Research did a small study in humans ( 7 people) and found it effective

Hoodia seems to work by telling the brain "you are full". It has been suggested that it has a potency nearly 100 times stronger than sugar (not as a sweetener but in its ability to make you feel satisfied and not hungry any longer).

The bottom line is this: the studies are promising, but far too small to be clinically significant yet. It is sort of like this. Ask 7 of your friends what they ate for breakfast yesterday. Then ask if any of them had a headache during the day. Then take the breakfast menus from the ones who did not have a headache and publish a book entitled "breakfast food to prevent headaches!". Not all that scientific...but the book might make a fortune! Hmmm. What did you have for breakfast yesterday??

This is a very important question. What are the long-term side effects from using Hoodia? Will it turn my hair blue, cause constipation, dry my skin, damage my kidneys, or otherwise make me worse off than I was to begin with? We could suppose that since the San tribe people of South Africa are not extinct that is isn't deadly. But that wouldn't really be very scientific. One researcher from Pfizer who was involved initially with Hoodia expressed concerns about other ingredients in the Hoodia plant which could not be eliminated from the extracts and had the potential for liver damage.

Other than that, we really don't have any strong data to suggest safety. But that being said, I couldn't find any articles that document in an equally scientific way any known danger associated with Hoodia either. Fair enough. We just don't know.

So, bottom line Jason, what is your advice? Should I buy it? Many products are available on the shelf today that claim to contain Hoodia and are available to the public. Search Ebay and you will have at least 25 pages of "Hoodia" hype and products claiming "Pure Hoodia" and "100% Hoodia" and 100% Pure Certified African Hoodia".

But most of you will go down to your local pharmacy or grocery store and see products like Slimquick Hoodia for Women, Delmar Labs Dex products, and Iovate Health Sciences Hoodia.

Should you buy them?

Here is my advice:

1) How many calories are you taking in on a regular basis every day? Do you know? The only way you will be able to see for yourself if Hoodia works is by comparing your calorie intake before and after, since Hoodia claims to work by suppressing the appetite. So, take notes. For the next 2 weeks carefully document your calorie intake. While doing this, I recommend also increasing your water intake to 8 full glasses of water per day. For some of you, this will be work. But remember, its practically FREE! Also, today, get on the scale. Weigh yourself 3 times today (I suggest this because our weight varies throughout the day). The average of these 3 readings is your starting weight. Write this down.

2) While keeping track of your calories every day (write it all in a journal, and figure out the calories in the evening if you need to, but just be sure to write everything down!) try to do something, almost anything, that will increase the number of calories you burn. Go for a walk. Even a brief one. Take the stairs instead of the elevator if you can. Just do something, anything, that causes you to burn a few extra calories. I'm not telling you to go join a gym, buy an expensive piece of equipment, enroll in a class, or begin using that workout video you have on your shelf. Jot down in your journal what you did each day. Weigh yourself daily and write it down also.

3) Now, after doing this for 2 short weeks, what are the results? It is from this data that you can make your choice to buy that Hoodia product or not. Did you lose any weight? If so, even a little, do you think you need the Hoodia to continue that trend? If you did not lose weight, and you are always hungry, then maybe you should consider if Hoodia is right for you. I only advise, at this time, that you try to buy from a reputable local source. And if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Hoodia is rare, and must be expensive to make, and many products don't actually tell you "how much" Hoodia it contains. But if you decide to purchase, continue your journal and track your results. If it works for you, not only will you have lost weight, but you have the makings of a great new book about your success with Hoodia (and will probably make more money than my breakfast headache book!). Now you know what Hoodia is, if it works, what we know about its safety, and have the tools to make an informed decision about buying it.

For more information on weight loss supplements, read my other article located here! Thanks and best wishes!