A Guide To Natural Hoodia
Natural Hoodia is a plant similar to a cactus that is mainly grown in the desert of South Africa. Over the last few years Hoodia has become very popular as a diet aid. There have been several studies that indicate this plant can help curb your appetite.
Where Does Hoodia Come From
Hoodia was a source of food and water for San Bushmen of Kalahari Desert for many years when they went out on long hunting trips. They used to cut off the stem and consume the bitter tasting plant to curb their thirst and hunger. There are more than 13 types of hoodia, and they are thought to contain a steroidal glycoside called p57. Hoodia Gordonii has gained immense popularity lately, and is heavily marketed as a weight loss aid in the form of diet pills.
How Does Hoodia Work
In its pure form, hoodia is all natural, and is not known to cause any side-effects. Phytopharm had conducted a study in UK, and it revealed that average hoodia test subjects were able to reduce their calorie intake by more than 1,000 daily for 14 days, hence aiding the weight loss.
Being able to reduce calorie intake by this much would really help people reduce their weight. This ability to curb ones hunger is what has made natural hoodia so popular!
Hoodia helps fight the hunger rather than increasing the rate at which the body burns fat. It is hence a safe way to lose weight.
Hoodia works in accordance with the body and does not alter its metabolic functions. A messages is conveyed by natural active ingredient molecule p57 to the hypothalamus that you are full now, making you feel less hungry. In any form, hoodia is simple to use and you do not need to put any extra hours toward lose weight. However, it is a good idea to supplement hoodia intake with a good diet and regular exercise.
Some people claim that just popping a few hoodia diet pills everyday helped the fat to melt down, but most needed more than these diet pills to achieve their weight loss goals. For many, the pills did not work at all. Hoodia works by suppressing the appetite, but it does not address the problem of an unhealthy diet.
Testing For Real Natural Hoodia
A laboratory test is the only way to now if hoodia is qenuine or not. There are TLC, HPLC and Microscopy tests that are able to confirm if hoodia is real or not. The retailer or manufacturer must be able to show a copy of C.I.T.E.S import licenses, which is issued while making an entry into US. This CITES test is a way of authenticating the real hoodia from contaminated or “watered down” product. More than 80% of the hoodia products are counterfeit or contaminated and only the laboratory tests can confirm their authenticity.
One of the reasons for the lack of quality hoodia is the fact that it is scarce. It takes four to five years for the plant to mature in the hot African desert. Thus it is not a cheap or easy to develope product. Besides how many people want to have a farm in the desert?
