Hoodia Supplement

A Hoodia supplement may have caught your eye recently, since they have been so much exposure in the news lately. The big question on everyone's mind is can this herb be a solution for weight loss, or is this just another scam?

Weight Loss Scams

The weight loss supplement industry often leaves much to be desired. They often push supplements that are no more than herbal speed. And while these kinds of supplements can help with weight loss, it often does so at the risk of making people nervous and anxious all the time. This is because the ingredients in most weight loss supplements are designed to increase your metabolism. This often means that the ingredients can increase your heart rate, make you sweat, and make you feel shaky and nervous.

Some of the ingredients in weight loss supplements can be dangerous. For example, the FDA removed ephedra from weight loss supplements because of the potential for it to cause heart attacks. While there were only a few isolated instances of people being hurt by ephedra, it was enough that the FDA decided to pull it from the shelves.

Trust Who?

For many people, this type of stimulating supplement just doesn't work. Sometimes these stimulating weight loss pills may work for a short time and then stop working. The reason why many of these stimulating supplements stop working is because the body adapts to the diet supplement. It gets used to the higher metabolism and tries to compensate by increasing appetite. Most people see a lot of weight loss when the supplement was first taken, but soon the weight starts to climb back on (sometimes more than what you started at).

Enter Hoodia Gordonii

In a search for a better way to ensure weight loss, scientists have scoured the globe looking for herbs that would act as appetite suppressants. Their search for the herb that would help with weight loss brought them to a little known area of South Africa, where local Bushmen claimed to have an herb that they took whenever they went on long hunting trips to suppress their hunger.

The scientists were taken out to the desert and shown a small little cactus known as hoodia gordonii. This unassuming plant holds a secret ingredient that people who have problems with weight gain have been looking for centuries. The scientists named the ingredient P57. While the name seems rather simple, what it can do is not. P57 tells your brain that you are full, even when you are not eating.

To understand how it works you have to know what happens when you eat a meal. As the food in your stomach is starting to be digested, the amount of glucose (blood sugar) in your blood increases. Glucose then acts as a messenger and the brain receives the message that you are full. The glucose-monitoring part of the brain, found in the hypothalamus, senses that you have had enough to eat and then you get the sensation that you are full. That full sensation you have after eating a good meal is your brain telling you that you have received enough nutrients.

The molecule, P57 found inside hoodia gordonii does exactly the same thing as glucose, only P57 is much more potent than glucose. Laboratory studies, cited by Phytopharm's Dr. Richard Dixey, show that P57 is some 10,000 times more potent than glucose at sending the "all full" message to the brain.

Hoodia Passes the Test

While scientific studies are just starting, the early studies have been dramatic. Hoodia has been shown to be safe and effective. The studies show that people who take the hoodia diet supplement have a 30% - 50% reduction in the amount of calories that they consume. And since hoodia does not increase your metabolism, you won't feel the jittery feeling you get with other dietary supplements. Hoodia in non-toxic and can be used for safe weight loss.

Hoodia was tested in a recent clinical trial in Leicester, England. The volunteers were given hoodia gordonii for 15 days. The participants in the study had greatly reduced the amount of calories they consumed (by 1000 calories a day). Hoodia had disabled their hunger mechanism and they reported that they felt full on fewer calories.

Weight Roller Coaster

If you have experienced weight loss only to have it come back again, a hoodia supplement may just be your solution for the type of weight problem. If you can keep from consuming calories instead of trying to work them off, then you can have the type of weight loss that can stay off. This is because the most common complaint of people who are on a diet is that they are hungry all the time. Hoodia is a natural appetite suppressant that works throughout the day. When Leslie Stahl of 60 minutes visited the desert to try hoodia in its native habitat, she noticed that she didn't feel hungry all day long. Most people report the same. Once they take hoodia, they are usually not hungry for 8 to 12 hours.

While you do need to be careful about which hoodia product you choose (because there are many fake product on the market), hoodia may be the perfect weight loss supplement. It has been shown to be safe, effective, and works to keep calories down.