African Plant Fights Fat

Hoodia, a bitter-tasting cactus-like plant that grows in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa, may soon take a large bite from the $40-billion yearly market for weight loss products in the United States. The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert have been eating the hoodia plant thousands of years – not to lose weight, but to stave off hunger pains when food was scarce.

It works by tricking the brain into believing that the stomach is full. Although a South African study in the 1960s found that animals fed with the plant lost weight, it was another 30 years before the active ingredient was identified and its appetite suppressing qualities realized.

That active ingredient has now been licensed to UK pharmaceutical company Phytopharm. To date, the company has spent over £10 million on research, and trials have been promising: obese volunteers given hoodia ate about 1,000 calories less a day than those in the control group.

There are hoodia products currently on the market, but before you rush out to buy them, be aware that they may contain as little as 0.01 to 0.1 percent of the active ingredient claimed, and therefore will have no effect. There are also counterfeit products available and products containing harmful fillers. Phytopharm is in the process of growing enough hoodia to meet market demands, and they plan to have their meal-replacement hoodia products on supermarket shelves in 2008.

Although hoodia appears to have no side effects, it has an unmarketably bitter taste; so we can expect any product containing the plant to contain an array of chemicals and sweeteners to make the products palatable. Unfortunately, these kinds of additives do have side-effects.

Luckily, there are other highly effective natural methods of appetite management that do not involve expensive pharmaceutical products, such as the awareness of factors such as macronutrient balance, food density and glycemic index. Weight issues may also be the result of some undetected problem such as poor absorption of nutrients, high toxic load, organ imbalances, hormone balance, allergen sensitivity, quality of sleep, and emotional factors.

A more healthy and long-term approach to the slimmer and healthier you exists not in radical transformations, diets and pills; but in informed and manageable changes of habit. The practitioners at The Centre For Integrated Health, Petersfield use the latest screening technologies to identify exactly what factors are relevant for you so that they can help you clearly map out the most efficient and effective way forward. Call today to speak to a practitioner on 01730 233 414.