As we discussed in the overview of Hoodia, the Bushmen (or the San) have used Hoodia plants as a natural appetite suppressant for thousands of years. But how did the secret of the San get out? It turns out by accident?
In 1996 the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa was doing a study of indigenous foods that the Bushmen ate. Part of the study was to test for toxic effects of any plants that were consumed by the Bushmen. When they came to Hoodia Gordonii, not only was it non-toxic - it helped animals lose weight!
They found when they fed hoodia to animals, the animals lose weight. By 1997, the CSIR isolated the bioactive compound in Hoodia responsible for appetite suppression and obtained a patent. The patent was licensed to Phytopharm and they named the molecule - P57 (because it was the 57th product they spent money on).
What did the Bushmen get for their discovery of the Hoodia Gordonii plant? At first - nothing! Turns out the CSIR told Phytopharm that the tribe which discovered the Hoodia Gordonii plant had died out and therefore no royalties were due. However, as Mark Twain might say - "tales of the Bushmen's death were greatly exaggerated". When the Bushmen got word that Phytopharm stood to make billions of dollars off their knowledge about the hoodia gordonii plant they were not happy.
Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, was quick to apply strong legal , moral and political pressure on both the CSIR and Phytopharm. Chennells pointed out to anyone who would listen that the taking of traditional knowledge without compensation was "bio-piracy" and must be stopped.
In what is seen as a landmark case, Chennells was able to convince the CSIR and Phytopharm to compensate the Bushmen. Now, any company that legally harvests hoodia gordonii from the Kalahari desert must pay royalties back to the Bushmen. Not only is this fair and just, it also provides an excellent way to check if the hoodia you buy is legitimate. If the company that makes the hoodia is NOT paying royalties to the Bushmen, you do NOT have a legitimate hoodia gordonii product.
So when will Phytopharm release a P57 based appetite suppressant?
Probably never. As we touched on in the overview, Pfizer had originally paid Phytopharm for the rights to market a P57 based diet pill. After a few year of unsuccessful attempts to make P57 synthetically, Pfizer pulled out of the deal. If a large amount of P57 could not be created inexpensively in the lab, Pfizer was not interested.
While Phytopharm was discouraged by the Pfizer decision, they knew that Hoodia Gordonii was too strong an appetite suppressant to give up trying to bring it to the market. In December 2004, Phytopharm announced that Unilever had entered a deal to market hoodia gordonii in its diet food product line. Therefore, rather than producing diet drugs, it looks like Phytopharm and Unilever will product diet supplements and diet foods with hoodia. The first Unilever products will not be out until 2008.
Does Phytopharm own the patent on the whole Hoodia Gordonii plant?This is an interesting question that we are sure will be decided in court one day. Here is our take on the situation - Phytopharm clearly owns the patent on the P57 molecule. If you want to try to make a diet drug with P57 you need to work through Phytopharm.
The question of the Hoodia Gordonii plant itself being patented is much more complicated. It is our belief that you can not patent a plant, but you can patent the use of plants and a process to extract plants. Here is an exact quote from Richard Dixey, CEO of Phytopharm when he appeared on 60 minutes?
"The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight loss product. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey.
So no one else can use hoodia for weight loss? "As a weight management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey.
The way we read this (and again we are not lawyers and are not giving any legal advice) is as follows - you can sell a Hoodia Gordonii supplement, you just can NOT say it is for weight loss. This is why many of the best Hoodia supplements have very plain labels that just say "Hoodia Gordonii" but do not say anything about using it as a weight loss or appetite suppressant supplement.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Does Hoodia Gordonii Have Side Effects?
Benefits of using Hoodia Gordonii are by far more prominent than what it used to be in the past. Hoodia pills have been enriched to have some particular effects in the area of weight loss. Compared to health foods available right now in the market, Hoodia has more health benefits and hence widely accepted.
Remember that while using the Hoodia pills method, you are not going on a diet; Hoodia simply decreases your appetite. You don't feel hungry and it keeps you healthy and energetic at the same time. A pure Gordonii has no stimulants and harmful side effects.
So far no adverse effects of Hoodia Gordonii have been reported; in fact it has been in the African food chain for many years. Some of the world’s oldest and most prehistoric tribes in Africa had been eating raw Hoodia for thousands of years to compensate their hunger during their long hunting trips. Even local tribes, whose ancestors have been using the plant for thousands of years, confirm that there are no negative side effects with Hoodia Gordonii.
Hence it has been established as a food and not a medicine in South Africa. The only side effect that Hoodia Gordonii has will cause your brain to believe that you are ‘full’ even without the sufficient amount of food ingested. This could be a problem if you need the energy and power to do some arduous activities.
The great concern associated with Hoodia is if it is ill treated by individuals with eating disorders for want of rapid weight loss depriving the body of the necessary nutrients. A suggested warning that comes with Hoodia Gordonii product as a dietary supplement would be – ‘Not to be used in childhood, pregnancy, or lactating mothers - not to be used by individuals with eating disorders - or those who are underweight or within a normal weight range’.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
Remember that while using the Hoodia pills method, you are not going on a diet; Hoodia simply decreases your appetite. You don't feel hungry and it keeps you healthy and energetic at the same time. A pure Gordonii has no stimulants and harmful side effects.
So far no adverse effects of Hoodia Gordonii have been reported; in fact it has been in the African food chain for many years. Some of the world’s oldest and most prehistoric tribes in Africa had been eating raw Hoodia for thousands of years to compensate their hunger during their long hunting trips. Even local tribes, whose ancestors have been using the plant for thousands of years, confirm that there are no negative side effects with Hoodia Gordonii.
Hence it has been established as a food and not a medicine in South Africa. The only side effect that Hoodia Gordonii has will cause your brain to believe that you are ‘full’ even without the sufficient amount of food ingested. This could be a problem if you need the energy and power to do some arduous activities.
The great concern associated with Hoodia is if it is ill treated by individuals with eating disorders for want of rapid weight loss depriving the body of the necessary nutrients. A suggested warning that comes with Hoodia Gordonii product as a dietary supplement would be – ‘Not to be used in childhood, pregnancy, or lactating mothers - not to be used by individuals with eating disorders - or those who are underweight or within a normal weight range’.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
Can Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pill help You lose weight?
Can Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pill Help You Lose Weight?
The Hoodia Gordonii diet pill is the newest catch phrase in the weight loss industry today. Everyone seems to be sticky with this secret, but still quite a few are susceptible about this miraculous plant. How can it help you lose weight? How does it work? And why it was not been heard before? Well, some of it appears to be true, but you will appreciate that everything needs some time to establish its truth. Gordonii product has also taken its own time impress on the weight loss process.
Hoodia Gordonii diet pill has originally been in South Africa for quite some time, but was only recently exposed to be an appetite suppressant. Many reports, including some from well-known media, revealed that Hoodia could make you feel full faster and stay full longer because of its obvious ability to suspend your hunger. The 'Bushmen', one of the oldest tribes of the Kalahari deserts have been eating Hoodia stems from their ancestral time and have been familiar with its 'thirst and hunger' quenching capabilities. That is why, when using Hoodia Gordoni it is important to have sufficient hydration on top of a healthy diet. Even though Hoodia Extract is natural and able to work on its own to help safely restrain your hunger, it is essential that you incorporate it into a healthy lifestyle.
As with any weight loss product, your doctor should know what you are taking and how you plan to use Hoodia Gordoni in your life. Even though Gordonii supplement is being depicted as the latest weight-loss wonder, do not let the propaganda get to you. Be realistic! And test the product to verify it's creditworthy.
If you have a sweet tooth, or you find difficult to cut short diet, you should consider an appetite suppressant like Hoodia Gordonii at least for the first few months to lose weight. Depending on how much you are overweight now, most doctors' advice losing no more than four pounds a month. You should be able to do that easily.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/.
The Hoodia Gordonii diet pill is the newest catch phrase in the weight loss industry today. Everyone seems to be sticky with this secret, but still quite a few are susceptible about this miraculous plant. How can it help you lose weight? How does it work? And why it was not been heard before? Well, some of it appears to be true, but you will appreciate that everything needs some time to establish its truth. Gordonii product has also taken its own time impress on the weight loss process.
Hoodia Gordonii diet pill has originally been in South Africa for quite some time, but was only recently exposed to be an appetite suppressant. Many reports, including some from well-known media, revealed that Hoodia could make you feel full faster and stay full longer because of its obvious ability to suspend your hunger. The 'Bushmen', one of the oldest tribes of the Kalahari deserts have been eating Hoodia stems from their ancestral time and have been familiar with its 'thirst and hunger' quenching capabilities. That is why, when using Hoodia Gordoni it is important to have sufficient hydration on top of a healthy diet. Even though Hoodia Extract is natural and able to work on its own to help safely restrain your hunger, it is essential that you incorporate it into a healthy lifestyle.
As with any weight loss product, your doctor should know what you are taking and how you plan to use Hoodia Gordoni in your life. Even though Gordonii supplement is being depicted as the latest weight-loss wonder, do not let the propaganda get to you. Be realistic! And test the product to verify it's creditworthy.
If you have a sweet tooth, or you find difficult to cut short diet, you should consider an appetite suppressant like Hoodia Gordonii at least for the first few months to lose weight. Depending on how much you are overweight now, most doctors' advice losing no more than four pounds a month. You should be able to do that easily.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/.
BBC News Report on Hoodia Gordonii
By Tom Mangold - BBC Two's Correspondent
Imagine this: an organic pill that kills the appetite and attacks obesity. It has no known side-effects, and contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you are full.
Deep inside the African Kalahari desert, grows an ugly cactus called the Hoodia. It thrives in extremely high temperatures, and takes years to mature.
The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, had been eating the Hoodia for thousands of years, to stave off hunger during long hunting trips.
When South African scientists were routinely testing it, they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P 57.
The license was sold to a Cambridgeshire bio-pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, who in turn sold the development and marketing rights to the giant Pfizer Corporation.
Fortune cactus
A molecule in the cactus makes you feel full
When I traveled to the Kalahari, I met families of the San bushmen.
It is a sad, impoverished and displaced tribe, still unaware they are sitting on top of a goldmine.
But if the Hoodia works, the 100,000 San strung along the edge of the Kalahari will become overnight millionaires on royalties negotiated by their South African lawyer Roger Chennells.
And they will need all the help they can to secure the money.
Currently, many bushmen smoke large quantities of marijuana, suffer from alcoholism, and have neither possessions nor any sense of the value of money.
The truth is no-one has fully grasped what the magic molecule means for their counterparts in the developed world.
Blood sugarAccording to the British Heart Foundation 17% of men and 21% of women are obese, while 46% of men and 32% of women are overweight.
So the drug's marketing potential speaks for itself.
Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey explained how P.57 actually works:
"There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus. Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar.
"When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full.
What the Hoodia seems to contain is a molecule that is about 10,000 times as active as glucose.
"It goes to the mid-brain and actually makes those nerve cells fire as if you were full. But you have not eaten. Nor do you want to."
Clinical trials
Dixey organized the first animal trials for Hoodia. Rats, a species that will eat literally anything, stopped eating completely. Complete appetite suppression.
When the first human clinical trial was conducted, a morbidly obese group of people were placed in a "phase 1 unit", a place as close to prison as it gets.
All the volunteers could do all day was read papers, watch television, and eat.
Half were given Hoodia, half placebo. Fifteen days later, the Hoodia group had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 a day.
It was a stunning success.
The cactus test
In order to see for ourselves, we drove into the desert, four hours north of Capetown in search of the cactus.
Once there, we found an unattractive plant which sprouts about 10 tentacles, and is the size of a long cucumber.
Each tentacle is covered in spikes which need to be carefully peeled.
Inside is a slightly unpleasant-tasting, fleshy plant.
At about 1800hrs I ate about half a banana size - and later so did my cameraman.
Soon after, we began the four hour drive back to Capetown.
The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and I have to say, we felt good.
But more significantly, we did not even think about food. Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception.
Dinner time came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted nor ate breakfast.
I ate lunch but without appetite and very little pleasure. Partial then full appetite returned slowly after 24 hours.
The Future
Mr Chennells is ecstatic:
"The San will finally throw off thousands of years of oppression, poverty, social isolation and discrimination.
"We will create trust funds with their Hoodia royalties and the children will join South Africa's middle classes in our lifetime.
"I envisage Hoodia cafes in London and New York, salads will be served and the Hoodia Gordonii cut like cucumber on to the salad.
"It will need flavoring to counter its unpleasant taste, but if it has no side effects and no cumulative side-effects."
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
Imagine this: an organic pill that kills the appetite and attacks obesity. It has no known side-effects, and contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you are full.
Deep inside the African Kalahari desert, grows an ugly cactus called the Hoodia. It thrives in extremely high temperatures, and takes years to mature.
The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, had been eating the Hoodia for thousands of years, to stave off hunger during long hunting trips.
When South African scientists were routinely testing it, they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P 57.
The license was sold to a Cambridgeshire bio-pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, who in turn sold the development and marketing rights to the giant Pfizer Corporation.
Fortune cactus
A molecule in the cactus makes you feel full
When I traveled to the Kalahari, I met families of the San bushmen.
It is a sad, impoverished and displaced tribe, still unaware they are sitting on top of a goldmine.
But if the Hoodia works, the 100,000 San strung along the edge of the Kalahari will become overnight millionaires on royalties negotiated by their South African lawyer Roger Chennells.
And they will need all the help they can to secure the money.
Currently, many bushmen smoke large quantities of marijuana, suffer from alcoholism, and have neither possessions nor any sense of the value of money.
The truth is no-one has fully grasped what the magic molecule means for their counterparts in the developed world.
Blood sugarAccording to the British Heart Foundation 17% of men and 21% of women are obese, while 46% of men and 32% of women are overweight.
So the drug's marketing potential speaks for itself.
Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey explained how P.57 actually works:
"There is a part of your brain, the hypothalamus. Within that mid-brain there are nerve cells that sense glucose sugar.
"When you eat, blood sugar goes up because of the food, these cells start firing and now you are full.
What the Hoodia seems to contain is a molecule that is about 10,000 times as active as glucose.
"It goes to the mid-brain and actually makes those nerve cells fire as if you were full. But you have not eaten. Nor do you want to."
Clinical trials
Dixey organized the first animal trials for Hoodia. Rats, a species that will eat literally anything, stopped eating completely. Complete appetite suppression.
When the first human clinical trial was conducted, a morbidly obese group of people were placed in a "phase 1 unit", a place as close to prison as it gets.
All the volunteers could do all day was read papers, watch television, and eat.
Half were given Hoodia, half placebo. Fifteen days later, the Hoodia group had reduced their calorie intake by 1000 a day.
It was a stunning success.
The cactus test
In order to see for ourselves, we drove into the desert, four hours north of Capetown in search of the cactus.
Once there, we found an unattractive plant which sprouts about 10 tentacles, and is the size of a long cucumber.
Each tentacle is covered in spikes which need to be carefully peeled.
Inside is a slightly unpleasant-tasting, fleshy plant.
At about 1800hrs I ate about half a banana size - and later so did my cameraman.
Soon after, we began the four hour drive back to Capetown.
The plant is said to have a feel-good almost aphrodisiac quality, and I have to say, we felt good.
But more significantly, we did not even think about food. Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception.
Dinner time came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted nor ate breakfast.
I ate lunch but without appetite and very little pleasure. Partial then full appetite returned slowly after 24 hours.
The Future
Mr Chennells is ecstatic:
"The San will finally throw off thousands of years of oppression, poverty, social isolation and discrimination.
"We will create trust funds with their Hoodia royalties and the children will join South Africa's middle classes in our lifetime.
"I envisage Hoodia cafes in London and New York, salads will be served and the Hoodia Gordonii cut like cucumber on to the salad.
"It will need flavoring to counter its unpleasant taste, but if it has no side effects and no cumulative side-effects."
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
About the South African Hoodia Gordonii Cactus
The South African Hoodia Gordonii Cactus is known by many names. It is called xshoba or xhooba by the San Bushmen who have used it to treat indigestion, minor skin infections and as an appetite suppressant during long hunts. The scientific name is Hoodia Gordonii. It is actually a succulent so the names Hoodia cactus and South African desert cactus are actually misnomers, but they are commonly used. The plant resembles a cactus when seen growing wild in the Kalahari Desert.
There are problems associated with growing the South African Hoodia cactus for commercial purposes. First, logically, is temperature. In order to thrive the Hoodia cactus requires desert like temperatures. Second is time. It takes four or five years for the African Hoodia Gordonii cactus to reach full maturity. Quantities of the wild plant are extremely limited and are protected by the governments of South Africa from harvesting. Phytopharm, the first company to research the properties of the African hoodia cactus, has established plantations in South Africa, but will not begin to sell their patented product for at least a couple of years.
It is important to note that there are more than twenty different varieties of hoodia, but only Hoodia Gordonii is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant. Some companies may be selling products that are purported to contain the African hoodia cactus, but if it is not Hoodia Gordonii, then it may not work. As with all health supplements, it is best to buy hoodia products from a reputable company that sells a complete line of products. In addition, dieters are advised to remember to drink plenty of water since hoodia suppresses thirst, as well as appetite.
By any name, the African hoodia cactus is a beautiful plant. Flowers are pale purple and appear after the plant reaches maturity. Even though dieters would love to have a large immediate supply, it is important to protect the wild African hoodia cactus from over-harvesting, so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
There are problems associated with growing the South African Hoodia cactus for commercial purposes. First, logically, is temperature. In order to thrive the Hoodia cactus requires desert like temperatures. Second is time. It takes four or five years for the African Hoodia Gordonii cactus to reach full maturity. Quantities of the wild plant are extremely limited and are protected by the governments of South Africa from harvesting. Phytopharm, the first company to research the properties of the African hoodia cactus, has established plantations in South Africa, but will not begin to sell their patented product for at least a couple of years.
It is important to note that there are more than twenty different varieties of hoodia, but only Hoodia Gordonii is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant. Some companies may be selling products that are purported to contain the African hoodia cactus, but if it is not Hoodia Gordonii, then it may not work. As with all health supplements, it is best to buy hoodia products from a reputable company that sells a complete line of products. In addition, dieters are advised to remember to drink plenty of water since hoodia suppresses thirst, as well as appetite.
By any name, the African hoodia cactus is a beautiful plant. Flowers are pale purple and appear after the plant reaches maturity. Even though dieters would love to have a large immediate supply, it is important to protect the wild African hoodia cactus from over-harvesting, so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com.
A Guide to Hoodia Cactus Plant Extract
You might have surely heard about 'Hoodia cactus plant extract' by this time as it has been broadcasted by numerous major media sources, like the 'BBC', 'The Today Show', 'CBS' and much more. Because of this, Hoodia Gordonii products have quickly ascended to become one of the fastest growing segments of the diet supplement market.
Before choosing a Hoodia product you should know that there are many kinds of Hoodia plant, but only the Hoodia Gordonii type has an astonishing appetite suppressing quality. These properties have been known about for centuries by a primitive tribe known as the 'Sans Bushmen'. During mid 1990s an institute called the C.S.I.R. 'Council for Scientific and Industrial Research' was conducting a study of native plants eaten by the 'Sans Bushmen'. Basically, the study was to see what foods, the 'Sans Bushmen' were taking that protected the toxic compounds. When the C.S.I.R. studied Hoodia Gordonii, they found it was not only non-toxic, but also it helped to suppress the appetite of animals it used to feed to.
Finally, the C.S.I.R. isolated the active ingredient responsible for the appetite suppressing effects and called it 'P57'. This is the 'Hoodia cactus extract'. They then sold the rights of 'P57' to a British pharmaceutical company called 'Phytopharm'. You may be wondering how it can be there are so many Hoodia products on the market if only 'Phytopharm' has the rights to 'P57'. The answer lies in the patent laws. You know that, only 'Phytopharm' can extract the active molecule called 'P57' from Hoodia Gordonii and use it in their product line. But a whole natural plant - in this case the Hoodia Gordonii plant- cannot be patented. As a result, other companies' can very well produce supplements or products made from Hoodia Gordonii and sell them legally.
The important thing for consumers right now is to make sure that they are buying a product that contains genuine South African Hoodia Gordonii.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/.
Before choosing a Hoodia product you should know that there are many kinds of Hoodia plant, but only the Hoodia Gordonii type has an astonishing appetite suppressing quality. These properties have been known about for centuries by a primitive tribe known as the 'Sans Bushmen'. During mid 1990s an institute called the C.S.I.R. 'Council for Scientific and Industrial Research' was conducting a study of native plants eaten by the 'Sans Bushmen'. Basically, the study was to see what foods, the 'Sans Bushmen' were taking that protected the toxic compounds. When the C.S.I.R. studied Hoodia Gordonii, they found it was not only non-toxic, but also it helped to suppress the appetite of animals it used to feed to.
Finally, the C.S.I.R. isolated the active ingredient responsible for the appetite suppressing effects and called it 'P57'. This is the 'Hoodia cactus extract'. They then sold the rights of 'P57' to a British pharmaceutical company called 'Phytopharm'. You may be wondering how it can be there are so many Hoodia products on the market if only 'Phytopharm' has the rights to 'P57'. The answer lies in the patent laws. You know that, only 'Phytopharm' can extract the active molecule called 'P57' from Hoodia Gordonii and use it in their product line. But a whole natural plant - in this case the Hoodia Gordonii plant- cannot be patented. As a result, other companies' can very well produce supplements or products made from Hoodia Gordonii and sell them legally.
The important thing for consumers right now is to make sure that they are buying a product that contains genuine South African Hoodia Gordonii.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/.
60 Minutes Report on Hoodia
(CBS) Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.
Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it'll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away.
It's very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn't stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you're full, even if you've eaten just a morsel. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports.
"Hoodia, a plant that tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full, has been in the diet of South Africa's Bushmen for thousands of years."
Because the only place in the world where hoodia grows wild is in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.
Nigel Crawhall, a linguist and interpreter, hired an experienced tracker named Toppies Kruiper, a local aboriginal Bushman, to help find it. The Bushmen were featured in the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy."
Kruiper led 60 Minutes crews out into the desert. Stahl asked him if he ate hoodia. "I really like to eat them when the new rains have come," says Kruiper, speaking through the interpreter. "Then they're really quite delicious."
When we located the plant, Kruiper cut off a stalk that looked like a small spiky pickle, and removed the sharp spines. In the interest of science, Stahl ate it. She described the taste as "a little cucumbery in texture, but not bad."
So how did it work? Stahl says she had no after effects - no funny taste in her mouth, no queasy stomach, and no racing heart. She also wasn't hungry all day, even when she would normally have a pang around mealtime. And, she also had no desire to eat or drink the entire day. "I'd have to say it did work," says Stahl.
Although the West is just discovering hoodia, the Bushmen of the Kalahari have been eating it for a very long time. After all, they have been living off the land in southern Africa for more than 100,000 years.
Some of the Bushmen, like Anna Swartz, still live in old traditional huts, and cook so-called Bush food gathered from the desert the old-fashioned way.
The first scientific investigation of the plant was conducted at South Africa's national laboratory. Because Bushmen were known to eat hoodia, it was included in a study of indigenous foods.
"What they found was when they fed it to animals, the animals ate it and lost weight," says Dr. Richard Dixey, who heads an English pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm that is trying to develop weight loss products based on hoodia.
Was hoodia's potential application as an appetite suppressant immediately obvious?
"No, it took them a long time. In fact, the original research was done in the mid 1960s," says Dixey.
It took the South African national laboratory 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite suppressing ingredient in hoodia. When they found it, they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm.
Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million so far on research, including clinical trials with obese volunteers that have yielded promising results. Subjects given hoodia ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900.
"If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically," says Dixey.
But why do you need a patent for a plant? "The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight loss material. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey.
So no one else can use hoodia for weight loss? "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey.
But what does that say about all these weight loss products that claim to have hoodia in it? Trimspa says its X32 pills contain 75 mg of hoodia. The company is pushing its product with an ad campaign featuring Anna Nicole Smith, even though the FDA has notified Trimspa that it hasn't demonstrated that the product is safe.
Some companies have even used the results of Phytopharm's clinical tests to market their products.
"This is just straightforward theft. That's what it is. People are stealing data, which they haven't done, they've got no proper understanding of, and sticking on the bottle," says Dixey. "When we have assayed these materials, they contain between 0.1 and 0.01 percent of the active ingredient claimed."
But Dixey isn't the only one who's felt ripped off. The Bushmen first heard the news about the patent when Phytopharm put out a press release. Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, who are also called "the San," was appalled.
"The San did not even know about it," says Chennells. "They had given the information that led directly toward the patent."
The taking of traditional knowledge without compensation is called "bio-piracy."
"You have said, and I'm going to quote you, 'that the San felt as if someone had stolen the family silver,'" says Stahl to Chennells. "So what did you do?"
"I wouldn't want to go into some of the details as to what kind of letters were written or what kind of threats were made," says Chennells. "We engaged them. They had done something wrong, and we wanted them to acknowledge it."
Chennells was determined to help the Bushmen who, he says, have been exploited for centuries. First they were pushed aside by black tribes. Then, when white colonists arrived, they were nearly annihilated.
"About the turn of the century, there were still hunting parties in Namibia and in South Africa that allowed farmers to go and kill Bushmen," says Chennells. "It's well documented."
The Bushmen are still stigmatized in South Africa, and plagued with high unemployment, little education, and lots of alcoholism. And now, it seemed they were about to be cut out of a potential windfall from hoodia. So Chennells threatened to sue the national lab on their behalf.
"We knew that if it was successful, many, many millions of dollars would be coming towards the San," says Chennells. "Many, many millions. They've talked about the market being hundreds and hundreds of millions in America."
In the end, a settlement was reached. The Bushmen will get a percentage of the profits -- if there are profits. But that's a big if.
The future of hoodia is not yet a sure thing. The project hit a major snag last year. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which had teamed up with Phytopharm, and funded much of the research, dropped out when making a pill out of the active ingredient seemed beyond reach.
Dixey says it can be made synthetically: "We've made milligrams of it. But it's very expensive. It's not possible to make it synthetically in what's called a scaleable process. So we couldn't make a metric ton of it or something that is the sort of quantity you'd need to actually start doing something about obesity in thousands of people."
Phytopharm decided to market hoodia in its natural form, in diet shakes and bars. That meant it needed the hoodia plant itself.
But given the obesity epidemic in the United States, it became obvious that what was needed was a lot of hoodia - much more than was growing in the wild in the Kalahari. And so they came here.
60 Minutes visited one of Phytopharm's hoodia plantations in South Africa. They'll need a lot of these plantations to meet the expected demand.
Agronomist Simon MacWilliam has a tall order: grow a billion portions a year of hoodia, within just a couple of years. He admitted that starting up the plantation has been quite a challenge.
"The problem is we're dealing with a novel crop. It's a plant we've taken out of the wild and we're starting to grow it,' says MacWilliam. "So we have no experience. So it's different? diseases and pests which we have to deal with."
How confident are they that they will be able to grow enough? "We're very confident of that," he says. "We've got an expansion program which is going to be 100s of acres. And we'll be able - ready to meet the demand.
This could be huge, given the obesity epidemic. Phytopharm says it's about to announce marketing plans that will have meal-replacement hoodia products on supermarket shelves by 2008.
MacWilliam says these products are a slightly different species from the hoodia Stahl tasted in the Kalahari Desert. "It's actually a lot more bitter than the plant that you tasted," says MacWilliam.
The advantage is this species of hoodia will grow a lot faster. But more bitter? How bad could it be? Stahl decided to find out. "Not good," she says.
Phytopharm says that when its product gets to market, it will be certified safe and effective. They also promise that it'll taste good.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/
Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it'll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away.
It's very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn't stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you're full, even if you've eaten just a morsel. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports.
"Hoodia, a plant that tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full, has been in the diet of South Africa's Bushmen for thousands of years."
Because the only place in the world where hoodia grows wild is in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.
Nigel Crawhall, a linguist and interpreter, hired an experienced tracker named Toppies Kruiper, a local aboriginal Bushman, to help find it. The Bushmen were featured in the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy."
Kruiper led 60 Minutes crews out into the desert. Stahl asked him if he ate hoodia. "I really like to eat them when the new rains have come," says Kruiper, speaking through the interpreter. "Then they're really quite delicious."
When we located the plant, Kruiper cut off a stalk that looked like a small spiky pickle, and removed the sharp spines. In the interest of science, Stahl ate it. She described the taste as "a little cucumbery in texture, but not bad."
So how did it work? Stahl says she had no after effects - no funny taste in her mouth, no queasy stomach, and no racing heart. She also wasn't hungry all day, even when she would normally have a pang around mealtime. And, she also had no desire to eat or drink the entire day. "I'd have to say it did work," says Stahl.
Although the West is just discovering hoodia, the Bushmen of the Kalahari have been eating it for a very long time. After all, they have been living off the land in southern Africa for more than 100,000 years.
Some of the Bushmen, like Anna Swartz, still live in old traditional huts, and cook so-called Bush food gathered from the desert the old-fashioned way.
The first scientific investigation of the plant was conducted at South Africa's national laboratory. Because Bushmen were known to eat hoodia, it was included in a study of indigenous foods.
"What they found was when they fed it to animals, the animals ate it and lost weight," says Dr. Richard Dixey, who heads an English pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm that is trying to develop weight loss products based on hoodia.
Was hoodia's potential application as an appetite suppressant immediately obvious?
"No, it took them a long time. In fact, the original research was done in the mid 1960s," says Dixey.
It took the South African national laboratory 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite suppressing ingredient in hoodia. When they found it, they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm.
Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million so far on research, including clinical trials with obese volunteers that have yielded promising results. Subjects given hoodia ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those in the control group. To put that in perspective, the average American man consumes about 2,600 calories a day; a woman about 1,900.
"If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically," says Dixey.
But why do you need a patent for a plant? "The patent is on the application of the plant as a weight loss material. And, of course, the active compounds within the plant. It's not on the plant itself," says Dixey.
So no one else can use hoodia for weight loss? "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent, that's correct," says Dixey.
But what does that say about all these weight loss products that claim to have hoodia in it? Trimspa says its X32 pills contain 75 mg of hoodia. The company is pushing its product with an ad campaign featuring Anna Nicole Smith, even though the FDA has notified Trimspa that it hasn't demonstrated that the product is safe.
Some companies have even used the results of Phytopharm's clinical tests to market their products.
"This is just straightforward theft. That's what it is. People are stealing data, which they haven't done, they've got no proper understanding of, and sticking on the bottle," says Dixey. "When we have assayed these materials, they contain between 0.1 and 0.01 percent of the active ingredient claimed."
But Dixey isn't the only one who's felt ripped off. The Bushmen first heard the news about the patent when Phytopharm put out a press release. Roger Chennells, a lawyer in South Africa who represents the Bushmen, who are also called "the San," was appalled.
"The San did not even know about it," says Chennells. "They had given the information that led directly toward the patent."
The taking of traditional knowledge without compensation is called "bio-piracy."
"You have said, and I'm going to quote you, 'that the San felt as if someone had stolen the family silver,'" says Stahl to Chennells. "So what did you do?"
"I wouldn't want to go into some of the details as to what kind of letters were written or what kind of threats were made," says Chennells. "We engaged them. They had done something wrong, and we wanted them to acknowledge it."
Chennells was determined to help the Bushmen who, he says, have been exploited for centuries. First they were pushed aside by black tribes. Then, when white colonists arrived, they were nearly annihilated.
"About the turn of the century, there were still hunting parties in Namibia and in South Africa that allowed farmers to go and kill Bushmen," says Chennells. "It's well documented."
The Bushmen are still stigmatized in South Africa, and plagued with high unemployment, little education, and lots of alcoholism. And now, it seemed they were about to be cut out of a potential windfall from hoodia. So Chennells threatened to sue the national lab on their behalf.
"We knew that if it was successful, many, many millions of dollars would be coming towards the San," says Chennells. "Many, many millions. They've talked about the market being hundreds and hundreds of millions in America."
In the end, a settlement was reached. The Bushmen will get a percentage of the profits -- if there are profits. But that's a big if.
The future of hoodia is not yet a sure thing. The project hit a major snag last year. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which had teamed up with Phytopharm, and funded much of the research, dropped out when making a pill out of the active ingredient seemed beyond reach.
Dixey says it can be made synthetically: "We've made milligrams of it. But it's very expensive. It's not possible to make it synthetically in what's called a scaleable process. So we couldn't make a metric ton of it or something that is the sort of quantity you'd need to actually start doing something about obesity in thousands of people."
Phytopharm decided to market hoodia in its natural form, in diet shakes and bars. That meant it needed the hoodia plant itself.
But given the obesity epidemic in the United States, it became obvious that what was needed was a lot of hoodia - much more than was growing in the wild in the Kalahari. And so they came here.
60 Minutes visited one of Phytopharm's hoodia plantations in South Africa. They'll need a lot of these plantations to meet the expected demand.
Agronomist Simon MacWilliam has a tall order: grow a billion portions a year of hoodia, within just a couple of years. He admitted that starting up the plantation has been quite a challenge.
"The problem is we're dealing with a novel crop. It's a plant we've taken out of the wild and we're starting to grow it,' says MacWilliam. "So we have no experience. So it's different? diseases and pests which we have to deal with."
How confident are they that they will be able to grow enough? "We're very confident of that," he says. "We've got an expansion program which is going to be 100s of acres. And we'll be able - ready to meet the demand.
This could be huge, given the obesity epidemic. Phytopharm says it's about to announce marketing plans that will have meal-replacement hoodia products on supermarket shelves by 2008.
MacWilliam says these products are a slightly different species from the hoodia Stahl tasted in the Kalahari Desert. "It's actually a lot more bitter than the plant that you tasted," says MacWilliam.
The advantage is this species of hoodia will grow a lot faster. But more bitter? How bad could it be? Stahl decided to find out. "Not good," she says.
Phytopharm says that when its product gets to market, it will be certified safe and effective. They also promise that it'll taste good.
For more information visit: http://www.revitalady.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)