Hoodia Gordonii is found in the deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Although Hoodia was "discovered" relatively recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for thousands of years. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the Hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips.

In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used Hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn't until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began studying Hoodia. After years of careful research, scientists isolated the compound in this all-natural food that was responsible for dramatic weight loss: P57.

P57 is so effective in losing weight that the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer patented it in the hopes of cornering the market on the greatest weight loss product ever made. To date, however, Pfizer is not able to affordably synthesize the P57 for mass production. Currently, only authentic Hoodia plants are the source for P57.

The Less You Eat, The More You Lose: Hypothalamus and The Role of P57

Hoodia acts as an appetite suppressant. However, unlike other appetite suppressants, Hoodia is not a stimulant. It actually has no effect other than to suppress appetite. It does this because it contains P57 which has a surprising effect on your brain.

Within your brain, you have several distinct parts. Each part of your brain has a job. The hypothalamus of your brain is the part which, as one of its jobs, sends signals telling you whether you are hungry or not, and in which there are nerve cell receptors that sense your blood sugar level. When you eat, your blood sugar level rises, signals are sent to the hypothalamus, the nerve cells fire, and your hypothalamus tells the rest of your brain and body that you are full.

P57 is the active ingredient in Hoodia that gives the plant its appetite suppressing qualities. P57 affects the hypothalamus. P57 works in the same way that glucose triggers a �full� feeling after ingesting a meal. The difference is that P57 is 10,000 times more powerful than glucose (blood sugar), so ingesting even small amounts of P57 tricks the hypothalamus into signaling the brain that you are full.

Simply put, Hoodia makes you eat less, thus helping to lose weight naturally and safely.