Hoodia is a prickly plant called a succulent, which closely resembles the cactus family. Bearing large odorous blooms, the hoodia plant has been used for ages by the San tribe of South Africa. The San people, also commonly known as bushmen, use hoodia by chewing on the root during long desert trips.

The appetite suppressant qualities of the hoodia plant were discovered by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, or CSIR, in 1996. The CSIR were performing a study of the natural foods eaten by the bushmen and happened to discover the amazing potential the hoodia plant offered regarding weight loss. Hoodia was first tested by being fed to animals, who lost weight after eating it.

In 1997, the Council was able to isolate the specific ingredient found in hoodia that caused the weight loss. They licensed the patent for this ingredient to the Phytopharm company, who named it P57. Currently Phytopharm is working to develop energy bars and drinks than contain hoodia.

These products are estimated to hit the market in 2008.

Currently the only real hoodia legally available is grown by the San people in South Africa, who recieve compensation from all sales of their hoodia plants. If you purchase hoodia that comes from anywhere else, it is not guaranteed to be authentic or effective, and may even be illegal or counterfeit.

The hoodia plant works by tricking the brain into thinking it's full. This occurs in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The effects on the brain are similar to those of glucose, only 10,000 times more effective!

You can find hoodia gordonii available in several different forms such as capsule, spray, liquid, and patch. What you choose depends on your own preferred method of hoodia ingestion.

When added to a healthy diet and regular exercise, extracts of the hoodia plant can be an extremely effective way to decrease hunger, speed the metabolism and lose weight.