African Hoodia Cactus Weight Loss.
Every time you turn around, it seems like you hear more and more about the African hoodia cactus. Find out the best info about peyote cactus for sale.
This is unsurprising given that it has been covered by CBS’s 60 Minutes, the Today Show, the BBC, Oprah, and others.
This article aims to a broad overview of this fantastic plant, some history, and what research has revealed so far about its ability to aid in weight loss.
Hoodia’s History
First, let’s get one thing out of the way. Although it is commonly referred to as the African hoodia cactus, it is a succulent rather than a cactus. Although, it resembles a cactus, which is why most people refer to it as such.
Furthermore, there are dozens of hoodia plant species. Still, only the hoodia gordonii species contains a seemingly magical active ingredient that tricks the brain into thinking it is complete and thus aids in weight loss.
Hoodia Gordonii was discovered thousands of years ago by the Sans Bushmen, a hunter-gatherer tribe who roamed the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa.
For millennia, the Sans used the African hoodia cactus to suppress their appetite and thirst because they would go on hunting trips that required them to go for long periods without food or water.
They discovered that eating the hoodia gordonii plant relieved hunger and thirst.
This unique plant and its active ingredient were kept secret for thousands of years until the mid-1990s, when the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), a South African organization, was conducting a study on the indigenous diet of the Sans.
They were testing the Sans’ foods for toxicity. Still, when they tried hoodia gordonii, they discovered that it was not only non-toxic, but it also helped reduce the appetite of the animals it fed.
Following additional research, they isolated the active ingredient that suppressed appetite and named it P57.
Soon after, the media picked up on this fantastic ancient plant, and the floodgates opened: the Sans Bushmen’s long-held secret was no longer a secret.
After reading this brief history of hoodia, you’ll notice that the Sans do not use it to lose weight but rather to suppress hunger and thirst when faced with a lack of food and water.
However, because obesity is such a vast and growing problem in the Western world, it was logically concluded that if people could consume fewer calories, the hoodia gordonii plant could be a boon to millions of people’s weight loss dreams.
Nowadays, anyone who has even 10 pounds to lose wants to lose weight with African hoodia cactus.
What Do the Studies Show?
Aside from the CSIR studies, a pharmaceutical company called Phytopharm conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with morbidly obese participants using the hoodia gordonii extract P57.
The results were shocking: participants who used the hoodia gordonii P57 extract consumed an average of 1,000 fewer calories per day than the control group. They also saw a significant decrease in body fat with no adverse side effects.
In the Western world, the average man consumes approximately 2,500 – 3,000 calories daily, while the average woman consumes about 1,500 – 2,000 calories daily.
The study’s findings sent shockwaves through the diet industry, and companies began springing up all over offering hoodia-based products.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the history of hoodia, the next step is to avoid being duped by the plethora of counterfeit hoodia products that have flooded the market and learn how to select products made with genuine hoodia gordonii.
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