Slim Pills For Weight Loss

Have you heard of Hoodia? At the Fat Belly Blog, we are exploring problematic diet and exercise ideas and presenting positive solutions. Which side does Hoodia fall on?Hoodia gordonii is a plant which grows in Africa, particularly in the Namib Desert. It is sometimes used by some tribes in Southern Africa as an appetite suppressant, e.g. when on long hunting trips. Of course, these tribespeople are not likely to want to lose weight with Hoodia — they simply want to stave off the hunger pains associated with not eating food because they don’t have it!The ingredient in Hoodia gordonii which is responsible for the appetite suppressant effect has been known since the late 1970’s. The South African government actually received a patent for the ingredient — called P57 — and eventually patented it in the mid-1990’s. Pfizer and a UK company worked on using Hoodia gordonii as a source of ingredients. The goal was to make it possible for people to lose weight with Hoodia’s ingredients.However, in 2002, Pfizer released their rights to the ingredient. If it was truly possible to lose weight with hoodia, would Pfizer give up their rights? At the same time, in 2002, the South African government gave the San Bushmen (famous for their “click” language) tribe rights to Hoodia. That’s an interesting story, isn’t it? Pfizer loses rights to a drug, and the San Bushmen gain the ability to market it!Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia, there is no good evidence that the chemicals in Hoodia gordonii work as an appetite suppressant in human beings. In fact, there is not a single study demonstrating such an effect! Moreover, there is only a single animal study on the appetite suppressant effect of Hoodia, and that study involved injecting P57 directly into the rat’s brain. (I verified the lack of studies on PubMed personally.)In summary, Hoodia gordonii — while possibly having some appetite suppressant effect in humans and animals — is simply not well studied. We have no way of knowing what degree of benefits, if any, using Hoodia gordonii for weight loss may provide, and we have no way of knowing what dangers use of the plant or its constituent ingredients involves.Therefore, I conclude that it is not feasible to lose weight with Hoodia. Good old diet and exercise, i.e. what we recommend at the Fat Belly Blog, as part of a competent and scientifically based program, is what is called for.